The Whisperwicks

Benjamiah lives in the sleepy village of Wyvern-on-the water where his parents run a bookshop enticingly named, Once Upon a Time.   Benjamiah’s parents have gone away to try to repair their marriage leaving him with his grandmother.   Benjamiah is a solitary boy who finds refuge in his books of facts and logic.  He definitely does not believe in magic.  So, when a parcel arrives for him containing a strange doll with buttons for eyes he is somewhat confounded and his confusion deepens when at night the doll changes into a nightjar and then a capuchin monkey that causes havoc in his bedroom.  This is impossible, isn’t it?   One night he follows the nightjar into the cellar and through a door into another bookshop and into the parallel world of Wreathenwold, a place which cannot be mapped and where it is easy to get lost.

Benjamiah notices that here every person has a doll or poppet like his, which can transform into a creature. He cannot comprehend this impossibility and how to understand this puzzling new world.  Quickly he finds himself in difficulties, but before he is despatched to the dungeons by the scary-looking police enforcers, the Hanged Men, Benjamiah is rescued by Hansel, a kindly man who runs a bookshop and offers to take him back to his family as he has a daughter the same age as Benjamiah.

Elizabella is a prickly girl nursing a pain she cannot admit to.  Her headstrong twin brother Edwid has disappeared leaving her bereft and without answers as to why he vanished.  Elizabella is determined to find out what happened to him and somewhat reluctantly allows Benjamiah to journey with her when he finds out she is about to leave to search for her brother.

A rip-roaring quest ensures with plenty of peril and danger as the children track down and solve the clues in the whisperwick messages Edwid has concealed, culminating in an encounter with the feared minotaur.  They are helped to find their way by a piece of thread named Ariadne.

Each chapter is prefaced by a paragraph from a Brief History of Wreathenwold giving useful snippets of background context.   The b/w illustrations add to the atmosphere and enchantment

This is a hugely imaginative and immersive story that caries you along at a tidy pace.   The world building is excellent with clever touches such as the use of playing cards as currency.  References to the Minotaur legend are woven in well but a times there is almost too much detail packed in and in places the story can seem a little wordy.  Ultimately it is story of courage and friendship and believing that there is magic in the world. And we all need a touch of magic.