Sign of the Raven

What a creepy book! But the characters are very real. You want them to succeed in their "escape plan." Tom is the kind of kid that you'd want in your family and yet so typical of his age. Rarely has anyone read a book concerning the terrible conditions that circus freaks must have lived under, and I'm not sure many people have thought about it. And, having not heard of Julie Hearn before, I'm looking forward to finding "The Minister's Daughter" in our library.

Julie Hearn first became known in the United States in 2005 with the publication of her highly successful, brilliantly plotted historical novel THE MINISTER'S DAUGHTER. Now American readers can indulge in Hearn's first novel for young readers, originally published in the United Kingdom in 2003. Although SIGN OF THE RAVEN lacks some of the plot twists that made THE MINISTER'S DAUGHTER so provocative, it nevertheless is a thought-provoking, exciting historical novel that will appeal to fans of Hearn's other fiction. Twelve-year-old Tom and his mother, who's recovering from breast cancer, are spending the summer holidays at his grandmother's home in East London. Tom has a bunch of problems; on top of his mom's sickness, he has to deal with being away from his friends and trying to figure out the tense relationship between his mother and grandmother. And then, the voices in the basement start calling to him. The voice, which seems strangely familiar to him, calls from across a gap in both space and time. The voice belongs to Astra, a tiny "changeling child" who's one of the circus "freaks" on display at the Bartholomew Fair in the early eighteenth century. Astra and her friends, like the Bendy Man and the Gorilla Woman, are constantly in peril, not only from the unscrupulous management and the fair's patrons, but also from physicians who would love to dissect their unusual bodies and perform experiments on them. When Tom is called across the gap, he is drawn into London's dark underbelly to help his friend. In the meantime, in the present day, Tom is finding out troubling secrets about his own family's history. SIGN OF THE RAVEN is creepy, evocative and detailed as it portrays events of history, often in earthy and surprisingly straightforward terms. A mystery, a time-travel fantasy, a historical novel with modern-day appeal: SIGN OF THE RAVEN's fast pacing and vivid recreation of gruesome past events will appeal to fans of many different genres. --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

read this book for a school report and loooooooovvvvveeeddddddd it!!!!! The plot is intricate and beautiful and the characters are extremely well developed! Any avid reader who thinks they've read everything in the world deserves this book!

This novel is a fine example of a well planned story, it takes you to several different times, and spaces without losing grip of the story arc. For us non british readers, brings us closer to the smells, noises and ways of English people, and gives everyone a glimpse of worlds as magical as J.M. Barry used to imagine, but with a sour lemon twist that makes us remember the low and dirty streets of the novels by Doyle. Gaze at "follow me down", remember that there's always something down in the basement. Jorge Avendaño