New Releases by Marcus Sedgwick

Join the wonderfully weird Otherhand family and their faithful guardian, Edgar the raven, and discover the dark secrets of Castle Otherhand. In the sixth of the Raven Mysteries, all manner of disaster descends on Castle Otherhand; weirdness abounds, the family are on the verge of being thrown out of their own home, and there''s still no sign of the fabled treasure of the Otherhand. Worse still, there''s no sign of Edgar, either. So will it be diamonds or doom for the Otherhands?

In the bitter cold of an unrelenting winter Tomas and his son, Peter, arrive in the inhospitable village of Chust and settle there as woodcutters. When a band of gypsies comes to the village Peter''s drab existence is turned upside down. He is infatuated by the beautiful gypsy princess, Sofia, intoxicated by their love of life and drawn into their deadly quest. For these travellers are Vampire Slayers and Chust is a dying community - where the dead come back to wreak revenge on the living. Years on from My Swordhand is Singing and Peter is still on the trail of the Shadow Queen. His search leads him to Venice, a city whose beauty disguises many ugly secrets. The Shadow Queen is there, gathering strength, recruiting a new army of the Undead for a final confrontation. Hers is the kiss of death.

A present-day boy, a seventeenth-century girl, an ancient crone: for a single moment, their lives are fused by fire. A tense, brilliant and eerie novel, nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award. The fire was a family tragedy that Jamie can''t forget, even in his dreams. And now there is something terrifying happening to him in Crownhill, the village where he''s been sent to get over his problems. Something to do with an evil old witch who gets into his nightmares, and a frightened girl, the victim of a long-ago witch hunt, whose presence lingers on . . . As the dark secrets of Crownhill are revealed, Jamie has to confront his worst fears in order to free himself from the horrors of the past.

Marcus Sedgwick''s award-winning debut novel about surviving in a sinking world. Winner of the Branford Boase Award, FLOODLAND is an unstoppable force in young adult fiction. Imagine that a few years from now England is covered by water, and Norwich is an island. Zoe, left behind in the confusion when her parents escaped, survives there as best she can. Alone and desperate among marauding gangs, she manages to dig a derelict boat out of the mud and gets away to Eels Island. But Eels Island, whose raggle-taggle inhabitants are dominated by the strange boy Dooby, is full of danger too. The belief that she will one day find her parents spurs Zoe on to a dramatic escape in a story of courage and determination that leads to an unexpected and touching conclusion. FLOODLAND has a powerful and emotive theme, handled with warmth and humanity.

A loaded gun, stolen gold, and a menacing stranger make for a thrilling frontier tale in this Printz Award–winning novel set in the Alaskan Gold Rush. In an isolated cabin, fourteen-year-old Sig is alone with a corpse: his father, who has fallen through the ice and frozen to death only hours earlier. Then comes a stranger claiming that Sig''s father owes him a share of a horde of stolen gold. Sig''s only protection is a loaded Colt revolver hidden in the cabin''s storeroom. The question is, will Sig use the gun, and why? This title has Common Core connections. A 2011 Bank Street Best Children''s Book of the Year

In the dangerous dark of winter in an Eastern European village during the early seventeenth century, Peter learns from a gypsy girl that the Shadow Queen is behind the recent murders and reanimations, and his father''s secret past may hold the key to stopping her.

Originally published: Great Britain: Orion Children''s Books, 2006.

Second title in Marcus Sedgwick''s brand new series of quirky tales of mystery featuring Edgar the raven and the strange Otherhand family.

A dark and gothic novel of vampires and Venice, filled with mystery and intrigue. A captivating story of love and loss, THE KISS OF DEATH is a stunning companion volume to the bestselling MY SWORDHAND IS SINGING.

THE DAYS BETWEEN Christmas and New Year’s Eve are dead days, when spirits roam and magic shifts restlessly just beneath the surface of our lives. A magician called Valerian must save his own life within those few days or pay the price for the pact he made with evil so many years ago. But alchemy and sorcery are no match against the demonic power pursuing him. Helping him is his servant, Boy, a child with no name and no past. The quick-witted orphan girl, Willow, is with them as they dig in death fields at midnight, and as they are swept into the sprawling blackness of a subterranean city on a journey from which there is no escape. Praise for The Book of Dead Days: “Beautifully paced and sometimes blood-soaked. . . . A very tangible sense of evil.”—The Guardian “Subtle menace and power.”—The Independent “Packed with drama, mystery, and intrigue.”—The Bookseller

It is 1915 and the First World War has only just begun. 17 year old Sasha is a well-to-do, sheltered-English girl. Just as her brother Thomas longs to be a doctor, she wants to nurse, yet girls of her class don''t do that kind of work. But as the war begins and the hospitals fill with young soldiers, she gets a chance to help. But working in the hospital confirms what Sasha has suspected--she can see when someone is going to die. Her premonitions show her the brutal horrors on the battlefields of the Somme, and the faces of the soldiers who will die. And one of them is her brother Thomas. Pretending to be a real nurse, Sasha goes behind the front lines searching for Thomas, risking her own life as she races to find him, and somehow prevent his death.

In the morning you should think You might not last unto the night In the evening you should think You might not last unto the morn Boy has survived the terrors of life with the magician Valerian, dark magic, and deadly chases, but he is still on the run. Now, as the City lies frozen, he is captured and incarcerated in the Emperor Frederick’s palace. Boy is transported to a world of splendor, and wealth beyond his wildest imagining. But beneath its golden veneer, this world is full of madness and cruelty, closely guarded secrets, and terrifying revelations. In a mesmerizing conclusion to the enthralling story begun in The Book of Dead Days, Boy and Willow are plunged into the heart of it–the furies of the Emperor; the tricks of necromancers; a trail of blood that will lead to the grisly Phantom. Holding all their lives between its pages, The Book of Dead Days waits to deceive its next reader.

The days between 27 December and New Year''s Eve are dead days, when spirits roam and magic shifts restlessly just beneath the surface of our everyday lives. There is a man, Valerian, whose time is running out, who must pay the price for the pact he made with evil so many years ago. His servant is Boy, a child with no name and no past; a child he treats with contempt, but who serves his master well and finds solace in the company of his only friend, Willow. Unknown to any of them it is Boy who holds the key to their destiny. But before that is revealed, Boy and Willow are held captive in the palace of the Emperor Frederick. Here they are plunged into a world of gilded finery and splendour. Beneath the golden veneer lies cruelty and madness. They are in terrible danger as they confront the whirlwind furies of the Emperor, the calculating ambitions of his confidante, Maxim, and follow a trail which will lead them to the murderous Phantom. THE BOOK OF DEAD DAYS and THE DARK FLIGHT DOWN are mesmerising stories of sorcery and desperate magic spanning dark cities, deadly courtrooms, and the threatening, frozen countryside. The truth about Valerian¿s past, Boy''s identity and many other shattering secrets are laid bare as the Book of Dead Days is opened for the final time¿

A l''heure où la montée des eaux menace d''engloutir peu à peu les terres les plus basses de la planète, c''est la panique sur l''île de Norwich ! Dans l''affolement, Zoé ne peut monter avec ses parents dans le dernier bateau venu secourir la population. Seule, il n''y a qu''en partant sur la mer qu''elle pourra s''en sortir... Mais dans sa barque, elle s''épuise à ramer et finit par échouer sur une île dangereuse où une horde d''enfants se fait la guerre. Comment va-t-elle survivre aux épreuves qui l''attendent ?

It''s winter, but it''s warm and there''s no sign of snow. One young boy wishes for it to snow like it does in his snow globe. This journey through the winter landscape of a boy''s dream is a truly delightful Christmas tale.