Wren has the perfect name - she really wants to fly like a bird. Wren does not have a perfect life. Her mother has died from her own attempt to fly. Wren lives with her angry and distant father, cruel younger brother and an aunt who is confined to a coal powered wheel chair because, while Aunty Afa survived the flight with Wren's mother, she was badly injured.
Wren secretly begins to build her own flying machine using plans from France, but strange things are happening to their ancient home. There are weird noises, huge cracks in the walls and the whole place seems to shudder from time to time but when Wren tries to ask questions about this she is told it is all just her imagination.
If you look at my labels for this post you will get an idea about the cause of this disturbance.
Nosy Crow blurb: A dark, Gothic adventure set on the island of Anglesey in North Wales and featuring a very fantastical beast… Wren lives in an ancient castle in the mountains near the sea. The wind whistles through it and the walls sing to her. Wren is busy inventing things, and her father is busy disapproving. But the castle contains a mystery and as Wren is drawn further into it, she realises the answer lies in the very foundations of her home, foundations that are being shaken to their core…
If your young reading companion (age 10+) has good reading stamina then they are sure to enjoy the final scenes in Wren but the journey to reach these moments is quite a long one although I did enjoy "watching" Wren construct her amazing flying machine using her Aunt's dresses, her own small coracle, and hundreds of bird feathers.
Warning Spoiler Alert: I knew/know nothing about Welsh mythology and especially about the famous Mabinogion stories but I have now read one story from this famous collection contains two dragons - one red and one white and a character named Emrys. In Wren, a strange reclusive man called Emrys is mysteriously connected with the dragon. And a boy named Medwyn also knows the story of the dragon under the castle and he helps Wren with her plans for flight and for saving the trapped dragon so I will say if you can find a simple version of this story written for children it might enrich your enjoyment of Wren. Medwyn is a character from Lloyd Alexander's book series The Chronicles of Prydain which are also based on parts of the Mabinogion.
Here is an interview with Lucy Hope where she talks about the inspiration for her book. Read this review and you will also find some comprehensive teaching notes. Thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance copy of Wren which was published in October, 2022.
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