Sign of the Raven

By Hearn, Julie

Publishers Summary:
Mind the gap.Something odd is going on in the basement of an old house in London. An inexplicable gap has formed, a gap in time that links the present to the past. And twelve-year-old Tom, who discovers the gap while on a visit to his grandmother, is torn between both worlds.Lured by a mysterious voice, Tom leaps into the early eighteenth century, to a time when circus "freaks" like the Bendy Man and the Gorilla Woman appeared at Bartholomew Fair. The voice he hears belongs to Astra, a tiny changeling child, whose limbs are no bigger than a man's thumb. She has called him into the past, because she is convinced that Tom is the only one who can help her and her friends from danger. Doctors are paying a high price for unusual bodies to dissect, and Astra and her friends are prime subjects.But Tom is dealing with difficulties of his own. His mum has cancer and is constantly fighting with his gran. And then he discovers a dark secret in his family's past...a secret that pulls the strands of time together and might just close the gap forever.

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ISBN
978-0-68985-734-8
Publisher
Seo Atheneum


REVIEWS

School Library Journal

Reviewed on November 1, 2005

Gr 6-9 Tom, 12, would rather be home in Dorset enjoying his summer vacation and hanging out with his mates. Instead, his cancer-stricken mother has driven them both to London to stay with her estranged mother. As soon as they arrive, Tom begins to hear voices from across -the gap, - a time portal in the basement of his grandmother's house. The voices belong to a group of adults and children with physical deformities who have been sideshow attractions at Bartholomew Fa...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Horn Book Magazine

Reviewed on January 1, 2006

The contortionist Malachi Twist, or the "Bendy Man," of Hearn's novel is a good emblem of its qualities: Twist knots his boneless limbs over and under, in and out; Hearn knots together lines of plot and theme in which 1717 and the present are contiguous. Twelve-year-old Tom is stuck at his grandmother's in London—his mother has decided that her recovery from breast cancer involves making peace wi...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

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