‘Raven Mad’ by Karen Maitland

Today I am pleased to welcome author, Karen Maitland onto the blog to talk about ravens, one of my favourite birds. I used to have a couple that would peck on my conservatory door on a daily basis, waiting for some food. Karen's new book, The Raven's Head has just been published.

 

In my new novel THE RAVEN’S HEAD, the raven is a sinister creature, but I actually love ravens, though they do have wicked sense of humour. I had a great aunt, who was always rescuing injured wildlife, a habit I have inherited from her. One of her rescues was a baby raven she’d hand-reared after it fell from the nest. As soon as he could fly, she released him, but he returned every day, bringing her gifts of pebbles. He loved to ride on her shoulder, but he seemed to sense if any visitor didn’t like him. He’d quietly perch on top of one of the doorways until the visitor was directly beneath him. Then he’d drop on them, flapping his wings and screeching. He’d often waited patiently before pouncing, until they were carrying something in both hands. He’d fly up out of reach and watch the chaos, with his head on one side. I’m sure he was chuckling.

Throughout history, ravens have inspired both awe and fear. They were associated with death, because they feasted on carrion and pecked at the corpses hanging on gallows or the slain on the battlefields. But ravens were also associated with the ancient gods of Saxons, Celts and Viking. There was even a legend that King Arthur didn’t die, but became a raven so he could watch over his people. 

The Norse god Odin had two ravens - Huginn, thought, and Muninn, memory - who flew across the world to discover the guilty secrets men tried to hide. It was this legend of the raven that was one of the inspirations for the medieval raven’s head in my novel. But by the Middle Ages, ravens had come to be regarded as the Devil’s birds or witch birds, even the devil himself in disguise, probably because of their association with the old gods, but also because the raven was an emblem used by the feared Viking invaders of old. 

Many people believed that demons rode on your left shoulder nd angels on your right, which is why if you spilled salt you had to throw a pinch over your left shoulder into the demon’s eyes. So anyone hearing the cry of the raven over their left shoulder could only avoid bad luck, if they turned round three times to the right and crossed their fingers. 

But there was also the curious legend of the Raven’s stone which could make the bearer invisible. To get it you had to climb a tree to a raven’s nest that was more than 100 years old and kill a nestling that was under six weeks old. The parent bird would return and insert the magic stone in the dead chick’s throat to revive it, which you could then steal.  My characters in THE RAVEN’S HEAD are trying to create the alchemist’s stone, and that too requires a killing, several in fact, but you can be sure the victims will not be the ravens. 

 

The Raven’s Head by Karen Maitland is published in March by Headline.

To find out more about Karen: Website

The Black Crow Conspiracy by Christopher Edge

Fog clung to the Tower, a cloaking mist that shrouded the fortress in a grey-white gloom, its battlements and turrets ghostly silhouettes against the sky. Beyond the bulwarks and the ramparts, the Thames lapped at the wharf that lay beneath the ancient keep. The distant creaking of ships at St Katharine Docks and the clatter of their cargo were the only sounds that could be heard as dusk gave way to darkness. Even the guttural croaks of the ravens guarding the Tower had by now fallen silent.

Published by Black Crow in 2014

269 pages in paperback edition

Summary from Nosy Crow

It’s 1902. London is looking forward to the new King’s coronation and ignoring the threat of war from across the sea…

Penelope Tredwell, the pen behind bestselling author, Montgomery Flinch, is cursed with writer’s block. She needs a sensational new story or her magazine, The Penny Dreadful, will go under. So when a mysterious letter arrives, confessing to an impossible crime, Penny thinks she has found a plot to enthrall her readers: the theft of the Crown Jewels by the diabolical Black Crow.

Ghostly apparitions, kidnap and treason - this is the stuff of great stories. But what if it’s all true?

*****

Reviewed by K. M. Lockwood

The cover artwork by Eric Orchard reflects the tone of this 1902 set adventure story. There’s a spooky atmosphere with dark hues and period detail, but also plenty to engage the contemporary reader.

We are given a likeable, inventive and patient heroine in the writer Penelope Tredwell who keeps her cool through a sequence of exciting predicaments. There’s an appealing array of early 20th century historical events given a rather different spin and overall, it’s an enjoyable thriller. 

You could imagine it filmed as a serial for Saturday morning cinema once-upon-a-time - full of cliff-hangers and thrilling escapes and mysteries. The relationship between Penelope, Alfie her assistant and the actor playing Montgomery Flinch gives plenty of warmth and humour to the adventures.

This book would suit a wide range of confident readers - the lightness with which it is written means that the perils shown are unlikely to upset even the most sensitive of souls - yet there is a pleasurable frisson from the more ghostly aspects.

You don’t need to have read the two previous stories  - but I expect those who have will find the ending of this one particularly satisfying.

Ideal for when you want a good, fast, escapist read in a less-than-obvious time period.