Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

Bellman & Black
by Diane Setterfield

I spend about 90% of my time reading children's and teen books, and even though I love most of what I read in those age groups (and more adults should read children's books, they're more exciting than you'd imagine - we have more and more grown-ups visiting the young adult section of our bookshop), I do look forward to a change of writing in an adult book. Several years ago I read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and rather enjoyed it, so when I was given the opportunity of reading Bellman & Black, I was quite excited at the prospect. I absolutely loved it. Her writing is just glorious. I could even compare it to Dickens - full of detail, wonderfully descriptive, incredibly atmospheric. I'm a bit of a fan of dark, ghostly stories, and even though this is not a ghost story as such, it leaves you with that same prickly feeling, which you both love and fear at the same time.

When he is 10 years old, William Bellman is out with his friends when he produces a home-made, finely crafted catapult. His friends make him a bet that he can't knock out that rook from that tree way over there. William takes up the challenge, and even though he knows he can do it, when he sees the stone from the catapult arc its way directly towards the rook, he silently wishes the rook would fly away. It does not. It falls dead from the tree. The story then continues with William as a young handsome man, admired by the ladies. He is offered work as an apprentice at his uncle's mill. He is a quick learner and a hard worker, and the business flourishes. His fortune seems to improve over the coming years until accidents and illnesses start to befall those around him he loves, and a strange man in black appears at all the funerals. Something niggles at the back of William's mind. Who is this man and what does he want, and why does he only make appearances at funerals?

Gripping, dark, thrilling, sinister, atmospheric - a memorable and moving story of how one act can pave a way to your downfall. Don't mess with rooks. They remember everything.

If you enjoy this, also try the rather scary Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley. But not in the dark on your own.