Maggie Blue and the White Crow

Maggie Blue, first encountered in the highly regarded Maggie Blue and the Dark World, is back for her second adventure and while her situation is slightly improved – she has new friends, school is slightly easier, her wonderful companion Hoagy the talking cat remains at her side – the Dark World is by no means finished with her. Indeed, the stakes and the threats are even higher. The first sign of trouble is the arrival of a white crow, which refuses to leave her side, no matter what she does; the next, just as unsettling for Maggie, is her mother, newly escaped from the psychiatric hospital that’s been her home for some time. At first her mother is an embarrassment to Maggie, who wants to keep her a secret from her friends, but when she is kidnapped and taken into the Dark World, there’s an inevitability about it and of course Maggie will try to save her, even though she’d hoped never to return. The new adventure has all the excitement of the first, and is another thrilling and distinctive fantasy adventure, the dangers Maggie faces feeling very real indeed. It’s good that there is help not just in the form of Hoagy but in Maggie’s surprising new friend, Jean, and in Aunt Esme who is made of sterner stuff than we imagined. Both worlds, this one and the Dark, are filled with a sense of spreading foreboding and readers will be eager for the third and final part of this compelling series.

Read our Q&A interview with Anna Goodall about Maggie Blue and the White Crow.