The Clockwork Crow
Orphan Seren Rhys longs for a magical Christmas and new home with her godparents in Victorian Wales, but once she arrives, nothing is how she imagined. The family is gone, and Plas-y Fran is a cold, unwelcoming mansion run by a secretive housekeeper and several tightlipped servants. Disheartened and lonely, Seren retreats to her room, where she unwraps a parcel previously entrusted to her by a mysterious man at the rail station. It turns out to be a talking, mechanical crow with attitude, and together, they embark on an adventure to find her godparents’ missing son and bring him home.
There are some wonderfully imaginative moments in this story geared toward readers ages 9-12. Blood and tears are used to escape a snow globe world, and the fairies are menacing enough to impart a real sense of danger in Seren’s quest.
Author Catherine Fisher hits all the marks with a looming, gothic mansion, steampunk mechanical crow, sympathetic orphan, snow globes, Christmas, and fairies in this wintery tale of finding family and a place to call home. This is the first book in the Clockwork Crow Trilogy.
