Review: Food For Thought
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 12, 2014
On International Women’s Day, I was lucky enough to have a few hours to myself as I waited for my children to complete various tasks and functions. My choice of book was Ravenfold by Kath Middleton. It had me so involved that by the time I had a few hours free in the evening, it was the book that became my focus.To my mind, this was the perfect read for a day set aside for reflecting about the rights of women. Not only that, it’s so well written that the journey was a pleasure to take.The ravens alluded to in the title are birds that have become close to their human friends, a group of teenagers who hang around together enjoying the things that only children can. Life’s an adventure of sorts for all of them, but the fact that they’re growing up means that there’s a dark cloud hanging over them, especially the girls.Ravenfold is set in medieval times. Things were very different then and those differences are woven into the detail of the story rather skilfully. Above all, the role of girls and women is so limited and rigid as to make the framework tense and charged in itself.Romelda Bolt is almost fourteen and has caught theattention of a brute of a man who rules the area,Oswald. He has the power to crush people or to raisetheir status at his whim. It’s not long before Romelda islearning to sew and is then chained in marriage to herdrunken lord.Marriage doesn’t make life any easier for Romelda orher family. Oswald is no noble man and lacks any of thequalities that a decent human being might possess.There’s a sense of claustrophobia about the whole taleas Oswald tightens his fist and we get to see whatpowders crumble from between his fingers.I’m loath to give away too much. Suffice to say, thingsdon’t go well and Romelda and her family are deeplydamaged by what occurs. It’s this damage that leads tothoughts of taking revenge and for me, that’s exactlywhat I wanted.This is a really interesting story. It has a hauntingatmosphere right from the off when a young manslaughters a pig and takes away a vial of its bloodbefore leaving. It has the feel of a really strong, darkfairytale where the cruelty and chill have the power toenclose and suffocate. This creates a real drive to findwhat is about to happen and a real need to reach somekind of escape. I was at the author’s mercy from anearly point; whether she was generous or barbaric, I’llnot say.Back to Women’s Day. A read like this is a strongreminder of how much things have changed over theyears and had me reflecting over how much morechange is needed. As I sat in my own bubble in a worldfull of bubbles, I had to remind myself that the shiftsthat have come through processes of evolution orrevolution have not been uniform across the globe. Thereminder is not enough unless it causes a shift inthinking in some way; reading a book like this is oneway to get the cogs moving. One small cog cansometimes make a big difference. Here’s hoping.