White Crow Review (4/5)

As ever, Marcus Sedgwick's latest novel White Crow is gritty, realistic and ultimately harrowing, more than earning its place on the 2011 Kate Carnegie shortlist, but is it likely to win the award? The premise is that two groups of unlikely friends are intrigued to find out what awaits us after death, and somehow despite them living two centuries apart, whatever one group does in the 1800s will directly affect the others 200 years on. Like so many books found on past and present shortlists, it's hard to go into much detail without spoiling some of the best plot twists, but what I will say is that although the first half of the novel seems to be fairly uneventful and uncompelling, persevere through it because the second half is much more exciting, taking minor words said by the characters early on and transforming them into key threads in the storyline that help provide a satisfying- if somewhat disturbing- dénouement sure to keep any reader thinking long after the final page. That Sedgwick appears to manage this with every piece he produces never ceases to amaze me, and were it not for the unbalanced pacing this would undoubtedly go down as his best work yet. As it is, White Crow takes its time starting up, but once the connections between Winterfold's inhabitants in the 19th and 21st centuries become apparent it becomes an absolutely essential read.