Christopher Skaife: Ravenmaster (2018, Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
256 pages
English language
Published Aug. 7, 2018 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Like many others I stumbled on Christopher's account on twitter, then followed out of interest around the tower ravens. Interesting insight into day-to-day life with the birds in the tower
I've been following the author on Twitter for a while so I was familiar with his job and what it entails. Despite that, this is still a fascinating look at the care of the ravens at the Tower of London.
If you aren't familiar with the story, there is a legend (which the author casts doubts on) that if the ravens leave the Tower of London, then England will fall. There are seven ravens who live in the Tower. They are free during the day to mingle with the tourists, steal food from the tourists, and observe the general hub bub. At night they have an enclosure to help protect them from the foxes who also live in the tower.
"In the past the Ravenmasters preferred to put the food out around the Tower, but the problem was that a seagull might take a nice juicy piece of ox liver, …
I've been following the author on Twitter for a while so I was familiar with his job and what it entails. Despite that, this is still a fascinating look at the care of the ravens at the Tower of London.
If you aren't familiar with the story, there is a legend (which the author casts doubts on) that if the ravens leave the Tower of London, then England will fall. There are seven ravens who live in the Tower. They are free during the day to mingle with the tourists, steal food from the tourists, and observe the general hub bub. At night they have an enclosure to help protect them from the foxes who also live in the tower.
"In the past the Ravenmasters preferred to put the food out around the Tower, but the problem was that a seagull might take a nice juicy piece of ox liver, say, that was intended for a raven, have a little nibble on it and then casually drop it on a visitor from a great height."
The ravens aren't pets. They aren't tame. They don't work on your schedule. They don't sit nicely on the bench when David Attenborough wants to film with them. They are prone to killing and eating pigeons (not always in that order) in front of the tourists. Most of the Ravenmaster's time seems to be taken up with getting them where they are supposed to be and getting them out of places where they shouldn't be.
"[m]ore than once I’ve seen a raven chasing the Tower’s many resident cats and dogs."
Readers of this book will find out not only lots about ravens but about what it takes to be a Yeoman Warder. He discusses The Story - the official tour group talk that takes people about 6 months to learn perfectly before they can start to change it by adding in their own embellishments. The Story is standardized so any Yeoman Warder can step in and take over a tour if the original guide has to step away to help someone (like if they faint after watching ravens murder other birds.)
The book is written in short chapters in a very conversational style which makes it a very quick and entertaining read. I enjoyed this more since I have been to the Tower and could visualize most of the places that he is discussing. If you haven't been there, looking at a map of the grounds would be helpful to understanding the story. This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story
