Cassie is missing, and Fitz is worried.
When Cassie first tells Fitz about the noise she can hear, he’s not sure what to say. But that happens a lot with Fitz. He can never come up with the right thing to say at the right time – especially when he’s around Cassie. She’s different to anyone he knows. She seems so serious all the time, never smiling, but that is part of her mystique and quirkyness.
She asks him to meet her in the dark in the park between their houses. It’s the first time he’s ever touched her, even if it is only fingertips as they lie on the grass, arms outstretched – listening. Cassie describes the sound she can hear – a low hum deep below them, like… the Earth itself is breathing.
And then she’s gone. Fitz is worried, wracked with guilt he didn’t listen harder, or didn’t agree with her. As the hours pass and the police interview him again and again, the pieces of the last few weeks come together like a spilled jigsaw put back in place.
Suddenly he knows. He knows where she is and why she is there. Fitz knows he has to go and get her, and tell her everything that was too hard to say before.
This might be deemed a quick read by some, and written for reluctant or dyslexic readers by the amazing publisher Barrington Stoke, but there is a lot going on. Being a huge fan of anything Marcus Sedgwick writes, I snatched this book up as soon as I set eyes on it, and yes, it was a fantastic read.
Okay, it is set recently, just after a lockdown in Scotland, and the key theme is Climate Change, which many people say they’re tired of. It is also about first love and the awkwardness of it. It’s about the power plays in a teen band and popularity at school having a say in that. There are two households in contrast – one on a budget and despite a mum who left, still full of love. Another is wealthy, climate concerned but in constant and damaging turmoil.
Wrath also introduces something I’d never heard of (scuse the pun) Schumann Resonance, which is a type of energy field constantly resonating around the Earth. This author has used this scientific phenomenon in this story in a fascinating way, in turn isolating one of the characters, and driving the plot.
The title Wrath has many reasons, the story many layers. What is key to all though is the phrase we have heard a lot : turning point. This doesn’t always have to be a bad thing.
Absolutely loved it.
Author – Marcus Sedgwick
Dyslexic Read – Reading Age 8 / Interest age 12+
Long listed for the Yoto Carnegie Medal 2023
Marcus Sedgwick talks about Wrath here
Read the first chapter here
(2022, Schumann Resonance, Science, Climate Change, Band, Music, New sound, Earth, Verbal abuse, Tension, Escape, School, Scotland, Dyslexic, Reluctant, Lockdown effects, First love, Guilt, Missing Girl, Disappearance, Connections, Turning Points, Making changes ourselves, Betrayal, Environment, Mystery)