The Raven on the Water

by Andrew Taylor

Friday, September 14, 2007

Another reissue of an out-of-print early nineties Taylor. I hope there are more out of print reissues coming!

This one is mostly a story of what happened to a group of children, mainly 12ish year olds, in the summer of 1964. The summer is being looked back on from the “present day” (ie 1990ish I guess). One of the children died at the end of the summer and one of the other children, as a grown up, is wondering what really happened.

Both the children and their parents appear in two versions - one 25 years older than the other. The thing that made the book for me was how well drawn the characters were and how the characters themselves and the relationships between them had changed over the years. The plot itself - and the involved imaginary game of the children - I didn’t think was so hot but overall I enjoyed the book because the characters were so convincing.