Marcus Sedgwick Books

Marcus Sedgwick is well known for Floodland, an edgy and gripping story of a sole character looking for answers in a tough environment where life is hard, and he does this beautifully again with this gripping novel.

This time, the main character is Peter, a boy who lives ostracised on the outskirts of the village of Chust, within a forest. He lives with his drunken father and their horse Sultan, having moved from village to village, earning their keep as woodcutters, although it is Peter that does the majority of the work. His mother and his past is just a story and only a wooden box accompanies them both, a box that Peter is not allowed to look in, ever.Peter and his father haven’t settled for long when there is a death in the village, but Peter knows it is not accidental. He knows it is a warning.

The encroaching winter will be dark and long and as Peter prepares for a long few months ahead, the priest is stealing their wood in payment for the pauper’s funeral. Without the support of his father, Peter knows that the winter will be a matter of survival. Then the gypsies enter the town with a most beautiful, enchanting girl on a horse but she is not what she seems. At the same time, Peter’s admirer Agnes is suddenly forced to marry another local boy who had disgraced himself in the local inn, and who now finds herself locked up as a part of the marital arrangement.

And so the reader is fully hooked in as Marcus Sedgwick weaves a story that involves mystery, magic, spells, and forces bigger than the forest the characters live in. Peter’s quest is to understand what his purpose in life really is and Sedgwick’s writing leaves the reader no choice but to find out for themselves.