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Sign of the Raven |  | Author: Julie Hearn
Publisher: Ginee Seo Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
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Seller: green_earth_books
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 1499007
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0689857349
EAN: 9780689857348
ASIN: 0689857349
Publication Date: September 27, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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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| Customer Reviews:
Creepy but REALLY worth it March 26, 2006
Barbara A. Miller (Iowa)
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.
An Exciting Historical Novel February 1, 2006
Teenreads.com (New York, NY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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
Ahhhhhmazzzzzzzzzing Book!!!!!! January 27, 2006
Tricheemama (Quad Cities, IA)
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!
 Follow Julie Hearn's voyage to the bottom of mistery November 3, 2004
Jorge Avendaño (Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico)
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
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