Ravencave by Marcus Sedwick

After enjoying Wrath by Sedgwick and published by Barrington Stoke, I immediately borrowed Ravencave when I saw that it had been nominated for the Yoto Carnegie Medal 2024. This book lives up to Barrington Stoke’s aim to produce 'super-readable, accessible books' and had me finishing the 113 pages in one sitting, and in tears!

James is very bored – his father loves tracing his family tree and he is being dragged around the hills of Yorkshire, this time not just looking for ancestors’ home, but to scatter his grandmother’s ashes. He finds it hard to keep up with his family, and one day sees the ghost of a young girl, who wants him to follow her. He is afraid, but when he sees her again, he decides to follow her and uncovers a gruesome secret.

Sedgwick has written a chilling ghost story that will have some surprises for the reader and will appeal to its target audience. However, the story is more than a simple ghost story. Sedgwick also explores family dynamics and technological change. James’ family is dysfunctional; his father has just lost his job along with 800 other workers, his mother who writes about ghosts has writer’s block and his brother Robbie is moody and is ignoring him. As James’ father explores the area where his ancestors lived, it is evident that changes in technology have also resulted in their displacement, especially when rich company owners have replaced workers with cheaper machinery and labour.

This is an easy to read, very accessible book, with a wonderful setting and complex themes of grief, family ancestry and capitalism.

Themes: Ghosts, Grief, Family history, Capitalism.

Pat Pledger