My Swordhand is Singing - Marcus Sedgwick

Exciting enough for even the most reluctant boy reader, this dark and emotive book was shortlisted for the 2007 Carnegie Award. Set in the seventeenth century it is a heartrending story of loss and redemption, inspired by the original vampire folklore of Eastern Europe.

Livestock are attacked in the dark night, and the dead return to terrorise their loved ones. Woodcutter Peter is intrigued, but his father, Tomas, insists that they leave well alone. Then a band of gypsies arrive, insisting that Tomas is the only one who can save the village. What secrets has the old man been keeping? And what does he hide in the long, battered box, whose contents Peter is forbidden to know?

Set in the seventeenth century, My Swordhand is Singing is a heart-rending story of loss and redemption, inspired by the original vampire folklore of Eastern Europe.