Chris Soul

Following on from last year's 'Fledgling', Lucy Hope has written another gripping, Gothic adventure that soars with scientific excitement and delves deep into fantastical folklore. It's beautifully strange, full of mystery and peril with a courageous, endearing protagonist to root for. A must-read this October for readers aged nine and upwards!

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Wren lives in an ancient castle in the mountains near the sea in North Wales. The wind whistles through it and the walls sing to her. Wren is busy inventing things, and her father is busy disapproving. But the castle contains a mystery and as Wren is drawn further into it, she realises the answer lies in the very foundations of her home, foundations that are being shaken to their core…

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Lucy Hope is brilliant at evoking a dark, eerie atmosphere rooted in a real sense of place, history and family. In 'Wren' she excels at this, managing to capture the progressive thrills of science in the 19th century, through the building of a mechanical aircraft, while conjuring a deep-rooted feeling for ancestry and Welsh folklore with dazzling and disturbing power.

 

I loved Wren herself and really wanted her to succeed in demonstrating her independence and brilliance against her controlling father. Early chapters really capture that relationship well and set up the stakes that Wren faces, while pointing to a deeper, ancestral mystery. There are echoes of Alex Cotter's 'The House on the Edge' whereby Wren's grand and strange ancestral home seems to be cracking and creaking and acting in peculiar ways. The build-up of clues and the reveal to explain why is wonderfully daring and absolutely thrilling. But it's in the little details that Lucy Hope succeeds most: the blossoming of friendships, the quirks and subtle mystery around Emrys (I thought this character was marvellously odd and enchanting) the eroding of Wren's father's stern nature and the tender little details of yearning for Wren's dead mother. 

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'Wren' is an exciting, daring and beautifully written story. Lucy Hope is a writer who is taking off and soaring.

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Thank you to Nosy Crow for my copy to review.