Crow Boy

Crow Boy #1

by Philip Caveney

Set in Mary King's Close, an exciting historical adventure featuring a young boy - Tom Afflick who finds himself transported from Edinburgh in 2012 and apprenticed to a plague doctor in Edinburgh in 1645. Young Tom Afflick has never felt so alone. His parents have split up and his mother has relocated him, hundreds of miles away from his home in Manchester to the unfamiliar city of Edinburgh. At his new school, Tom is simply known as 'The Manc' - a blow-in, an outsider. On a routine school trip to the historic site of Mary King's Close, Tom follows the ghostly figure of a young girl - only to find himself transported back in time to 1645, the year of the Edinburgh plague. Apprenticed against his will to a violent plague doctor, Tom needs to use all of his modern-day skills in order to survive, while he desperately searches for a way back to his own time. This children's historical novel is a departure for Philip Caveney - acclaimed author of the Sebastian Darke thrillers for children and the Alec Devlin mysteries - and is sure to be a hit with them.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Scotland, Fantasy, Fiction, Time Travel, Young Adult, Historical

265 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Philip Caveney was born in North Wales in 1951. The son of an RAF officer, he spent much of his childhood travelling the length and breadth of Britain and spent several years in Malaysia and Singapore.

He attended the Kelsterton College Of Art where he obtained a diploma in Graphic Design. Whilst there, he became drummer (and latterly vocalist) with rock band, Hieronymus Bosch.

After leaving college, he worked extensively in theatre both in London and Wales and wrote the lyrics for rock adaptations of The Workhouse Donkey and Oscar Wilde’s Salome.

His first novel, The Sins Of Rachel Ellis, was published in 1976.

Published Works for Adults

The Sins Of Rachel Ellis: St Martin’s Press/ Robert Hale/Berkeley Press. ‘a spine chilling debut.’ – Doubleday Book Club magazine
Tiger Tiger – ‘ St Martin’s Press/Granada ‘…an intriguing tale of rivalry and honour ‘– Flintshire Chronicle
The Tarantula Stone – Granada - ‘breathtaking action.’ Kirkus
Cursery Rhymes Cornerhouse Books– ‘wickedly funny’ – City Life
Speak No Evil – Headline/Headline Review/ ‘cracking summer reading.’ City Life
Black Wolf – Headline/ Headline Review/ nominated for WH Smith Thumping Good Read award.
Strip Jack Naked – Headline/Headline Review - ‘a triumphant thriller’ - Evening Post
Slayground – Headline/Headline Review ‘,,, breakneck pace’ – Daily Mirror
Skin Flicks – Headline/headline Review – ‘Caveney uses the central image with considerable skill’ – Sunday Times
Burn Down Easy – Headline/Headline Review – ‘the fiction equivalent of standing on Semtex’ – Pure Fiction
Bad To The Bone – Headline/ Headline Review ’10 little Indians on speed!’ Tangled web
1999 – Headline/Headline Review ‘more than just a return to form.’ City Life
Love Bites – Xlibris – ‘a frighteningly funny read!’ Tregolwyn reviews.

Published works for Children

Cursery Rhymes(with Bob Seal) (Cornerhouse Books)
Sebastian Darke - Prince Of Fools (2007) (Random House)
Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates (2008) (Random House)

Coming soon…

Sebastian Dark: Prince of Explorers (2009) (Random House)
Alec Devlin: The Eye of The Serpent (2008) (Random House)
Alec Devlin: The Kingdom of the Skull (2009) (Random House)

He wrote the screenplay for the short film Dream Factory, directed by Philip Davenport and has recently written his first full-length screenplay The Sick House for director Curtis Radclyffe.

He is also an advertising copywriter and has been the co-ordinator for the Manchester Writers Workshop for over twenty five years.

Reviews

[Marjolein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

So, I bought this book at Mary King's Close as some sort of joke (the museum/attraction/tour is really cool, by the way! If you're ever in Edinburgh, you should definitely check it out). When our tour was over and we walked into the store, I spotted this book and showed it to my nephew without reading the back. He did read it and told me he thought it sounded pretty cool. So, of course I had to buy it because he was right. It did sound pretty cool.

It was a really fun read, especially because I've been to Mary King's Close and I've heard all the stories about the people living there, about the plague and the plague doctor. I really enjoyed this, there was lots of humour in it as well. Sassenach Pills and Doctor Wikepedia, for example. It was an easy and quick read, I finished it in nine hours (while at work). A fun AND educational read for kids!

[AlexM · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5🧙🏻‍♀️
Das Ende ist sehr cool.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting concept - if we could travel back in time with modern medical advances what good could we do? I'm not usually one for historically based books but I found this one really interesting & have added to my list of 'places to visit. Scary & slightly gross at times to keep boys interested but with some strong female characters for the girls.

[Esther Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better than the usually rubbish my kids read! Excellent story with a bit of history thrown in

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up in the Mary King Close gift shop just after finishing a tour of the Close -- the perfect time to read this book. Having just seen the narrow lanes and crowded houses on the tour, it was easy to picture what Tom was going through when he fell through time and into the Close during the plague years. I enjoyed the book greatly, but I wonder if that was an extension of the experience. Still, it's a good bit of historical fiction, and I recommend it for anyone who wants a bit of a taste of those (unsavory) times.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very compelling, but I found it more difficult than usual to suspend my disbelief. I wasn't a huge fan of the hallucination/dream aspect of it, but it was cool reading about Mary Kings Close, especially since I've been there.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was great. Very playing beatie bow.

[Suzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand that this is a young adult book intended to teach kids a little more about history and the bubonic plague, but it too often steered off into bullying, divorce and time travel, eventually morphing into a video game and an Alice in Wonderland/Dorothy in Oz ending, with Tom waking up after losing consciousness from a “bash on the noggin.” Ugh. The story had great potential and there is so much intriguing material in the true story of Mary King’s Close, the black death, and the plague doctor, George Rae, who wore a bizarre bird-shaped mask and long leather cloak to protect him from the disease, that I wish the author could have written the story with more authenticity. I liked the descriptions of the hidden quarters of the Close and the inhabitants living there, but for me, Tom’s story, especially outrunning a bully through a video game, detracted from the real story of Mary’s Close, which has so much to tell!

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little bit of a predictable ending with the whole “bumped head, dreaming of the past” conclusion however liked the twist of the photo of Morag still on his phone!

I have given this 3.5 stars as I do enjoy the quirky stories that describe the not so nice elements of our history. I have downloaded the next in the series just to see what happens and how they explain another journey to the past. I really hope they’re not going to use another bumped head!

[Nick Sheridan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not really horror like I expected, but more light science fiction. I was pleased to see that some of the lazier time travel tropes are absent, and that the narrative doesn't resolve in a hacky way. Obviously it's a kids or young adult book, but it's perfectly enjoyable and definitely conjured up the sense of St Mary's Close (both the modern tour and the historical location).

[Mopple · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh crumbs i love this author! I dug out his first work and was blown away by it, itching for him to write another series!! now i grab any book he does!
imagination is brilliant-read it in one sitting!

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was like a even crazier/weirder version of The Wizard of Oz.

Teacher Rating: Upper Middle School. Light violence and the plague is a main plot point.

PopSugar Reading Challenge 2020- Bird on the cover.

[Yami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will preserve a sad memory for years to come, and if I ever tried to read it again I am sure I will remember this day..it helped me though and for that I am grateful...
as for the book , fast paced , fun read with a neglected sad ending.

[Seanus Knealus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

Nice twist, a bit confusing but I enjoyed it. Very interesting. I would recommend it to readers that like history.

[Molly Clifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book a bit confusing but it was fast paced and interesting and I read it all in one sitting.

[Lucie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good except for some things not making sense. I wouldn't have read it if I hadn't been to the historical site it was set in.

[Les McFarlane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Educational!

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this at Mary King’s Close after a tour. It was a very fun, quick read!

[Clairey_pop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, quick and easy read. I love stories based in old Edinburgh and based within the realms of real history.

[E G Melby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up this little YA story while in Edinburgh - finally read it; nice summary of the tour we took of Mary King’s Close with a little time travel thrown in.

[Jess Hayward · Rating 4 out of 5]

October book club read- a fun fiction novel picked up at a trip to Mary Kings close in Edinburgh. I enjoyed the historical aspect and reading about the things we heard on the tour experience.

[Corrin Woodbrooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bizarre.

[Kristen B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a YA Historical Fiction novel about a teenaged boy named Tom who is suddenly taken away from his home in Manchester, England to Edinburgh, Scotland by his own mother and her new boyfriend. Tom finds himself in a new school where he knows no one, and he is immediately targeted by the school bullies. Tom just wants to disappear. His class takes a field trip to Mary King's Close, a place steeped in history beneath the streets of the capital city of Edinburgh. It's a creepy place, and the sights and stories of their tour guide really set the tone for ghosts. Of course Tom sees a ghost, and he follows her into a restricted area of the close. He falls through the floor, is knocked unconscious, and wakes up in the year 1645.

Thankfully Tom had recently completed a project on the late-medieval plague, and he had actually been paying attention to the Mary King's Close tour guide. So when he finds himself somehow transported right into the middle of the terrible Edinburgh plague, he is able to think quickly. Luckily, he has time-traveled with his mobile phone, a 5-pound British note, and a partially used pack of antibiotics left over from an ear infection. Of course these items all figure prominently in the story. Soon Tom finds himself apprenticed - against his will - to the infamous Doctor Rae. Doctor Rae, Edinburgh's plague doctor, wears a thick leather cape, heavy boots, and a mask in the shape of a crow's beak. The beak is stuffed with herbs and other things that are meant to protect the wearer from the miasma, the vapors that are thought to be the source of the terrible disease. The effect of the doctor's costume is striking; the sight of him is terrifying to the sick and able-bodied alike. The story unfolds quickly from there, and the end comes before you know it...or want it to.

Speaking of the ending, it is disappointingly cliché, and the only reason I didn't give this gem of a book five stars. The whole story had been so interesting and unique that I truly was surprised that it ended so flatly. Right before I got there, I thought to myself, "No way. He's not really going to do that to me, is he?" But the journey there is so fun and deliciously creepy that it wasn't a deal-breaker.

I realize that some of my enthusiasm for this book may be due to the fact that I just returned home from my first-ever vacation out of the United States; we just spent nearly two weeks sightseeing in Scotland. On our very first day, we toured Mary King's Close in Edinburgh, and I was creeped out by the wax statue of Doctor Rae and the stories of deaths and ghosts in the cramped living quarters that make up the close. As we exited the tour through the gift shop, I just happened to see this book and thought I'd give it a shot. I love it when a chance purchase turns out to be so good. And bonus, the copy is signed by the author. But despite my bias, I still think it's a well-written and exciting story. Perfect for the almost-Halloween season. I would definitely read more by this author. Four-and-a-half stars from this girl!

[Grw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have to admit I didn't realise this book was intended for a younger audience when I started to read it, but that makes sense now that I've read it, along with the somewhat glossing over of the time travel issues.

With that in mind the book is very good at bringing both history and parts of Edinburgh to life, with some great well rounded characters that have a nice slice of historical data subtly included, in a way that could well make people want to look up more on the subjects mentioned.

Thankfully, this is realistic history, literally warts and all, without any 'Disney' style niceness thrown in.

The only downside I could find was some of the flashing back and forth through time, that were never explained as to if they were reality or not, but that's a minor point for what was, after all, a great read.

[Caroline Doab · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so so good. The main Character Tom has moved with his mum to Scotland. And while on a school trip to Mary Kings Close, Tom meets Morag. And with that chance meeting comes an exciting tale of friendship, nobility and Time travel. Tom has to help put things right while trying to avoid the plague and convince his friends that he's from the 21st century. I am so glad I took my time with this book and truly enjoyed the story to its fullest. I can't wait to continue on with the series and find out what happens to Tom in his next adventure. 5/5 brilliant book that puts me in mind of Joseph Delaney and Ransom Right Miss Peregrine trilogy.

[Ceitag · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the book was all the better because I have visited Mary King's Close in Edinburgh. The book was easy to read and the setting of the 1645 plague epidemic in Edinburgh made for interesting reading. However, in 17th Century Scotland very few people in the east coast of Scotland would have had 'Mac' names- they would have been more common on the Gaelic speaking west coast and you can't help but wonder if the policemen's name Taggart was inspired by 'Taggart' the TV programme!

[Caroline Deacon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great setting an intriguing cast of characters and an interesting plot, well written.

[Wizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I literally can't decide what to say about this....
How about: I liked most of it?
Or maybe: I just didn't get it?
I think those two statements basically sum up my opinion of Crow Boy. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it, but it just didn't make a lot of sense to me.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is amazing!
I thought it looked really bad, but i loved it from the moment i picked it up!
It's really creepy and atmospheric and i love the fact that its set in Edinburgh too!

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice idea, but disappointingly executed.