BOOKS
Raven
Book one in the Raven Series
By Paul Leatherdale
Raven is the story of four teenage boys growing up in the Suffolk countryside who enlist to fight in the First World War. They are all under age and around 15 at the time they join the army and the Suffolk Regiment.
One of the boys falls in love with an enchantingly beautiful, blue-eyed, dark-haired, local, young girl of the same age before going off to war, but she is clearly not of this world and has a supernatural secret. The raven is her companion, a mysterious, red-eyed bird who accompanies her wherever she goes. The bird is powerful and strong and highly intelligent and has endured across the ages.
The book explores the innocence of growing up in rural Suffolk at the turn of the 20th century and the rapid journey of the boys into adulthood, as a result of their horrific experiences fighting in the trenches of the First World War.
Binding the whole story together is the mysterious raven, an immortal, who influences the lives of those she touches. Who is she and how does she sustain her existence, and who must pay the price?
The book spans three distinct periods, modern-day 1985, the turn of the century, and the 17th century. It is a tale of innocence, love, discovery, supernatural intrigue, and the horrors and brutality of war.
Raven is the first in a series of supernatural stories that explore the development and influence of the red-eyed creature over distinct periods of time and different locations. What begins for our characters as something uncertain and confusing, but at the same time comforting and protective, quickly transitions into something far more sinister and much more deadly, as the forces of darkness coalesce to extend their diabolical and malevolent reach across the world.