Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott

 Rotherweird. The very name of the place sounds strange, mired in antiquity and an age of feudalism, lost in the marshes and the fog. A place very like our own, and yet, not. A time warp, where people continue to speak and dress and work as they have done for hundreds of years. A place fearful of 'outsiders' and the knowledge they may take or bring. Ostensibly about ten unique children with abilities who are secretly exiled here in the 16th century, this novel soon takes a deep dive into the creation of something very special: a play within a play, a world within a world, a history within a beginning.

Caldecott very impressively splits the narrative between two distinct time periods and only very slowly does the reader realise how connected the two are becoming by the end of the novel. It is hard to give more details without exposing crucial elements of the plot but I will say that I really enjoyed this novel in ways in which I did not expect. When I read the blurb, I was expecting a very straightforward historical tale about the fate of a group of children. What I received was a gift beyond measure. Caldecott has created, in this novel, a Dickensian masterpiece of characters and winding gripping plots that slowly reveal a very hidden truth. 

Everything about Rotherweird the town is so close to our own experiences and then so divergent that it rattles the psyche to read about it. The customs, the laws, the people; they are so real that the unbelievable becomes more real than the reality to which we are accustomed. The plotting throughout is superb. The character development is exemplary. 

Caldecott's novel reads to me like a Dickensian steampunk romp through an alternative history in a place sealed forever from the rest of humanity. I for one cannot wait to read the sequel, Wyntertide.

Five stars!