Summary
The first behind-the-scenes account of life with the legendary ravens at the world's eeriest monument
The ravens at the Tower of London are of mighty importance: rumor has it that if a raven from the Tower should ever leave, the city will fall.
The title of Ravenmaster, therefore, is a serious title indeed, and after decades of serving the Queen, Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife took on the added responsibility of caring for the infamous ravens. In The Ravenmaster , he lets us in on his life as he feeds his birds raw meat and biscuits soaked in blood, buys their food at Smithfield Market, and ensures that these unusual, misunderstood, and utterly brilliant corvids are healthy, happy, and ready to captivate the four million tourists who flock to the Tower every year.
A rewarding, intimate, and inspiring partnership has developed between the ravens and their charismatic and charming human, the Ravenmaster, who shares the folklore, history, and superstitions surrounding the ravens and the Tower. Shining a light on the behavior of the birds, their pecking order and social structure, and the tricks they play on us, Skaife shows who the Tower's true guardians really are--and the result is a compelling and irreverent narrative that will surprise and enchant.
Author Notes
Christopher Skaife is Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) and Ravenmaster at the Tower of London. He has served in the British Army for twenty-four years, during which time he became a machine-gun specialist as well as an expert in survival and interrogation resistance. He has been featured on the History Channel, PBS, the BBC, Buzzfeed , Slate , and more. He lives at the Tower with his wife and, of course, the ravens.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this lively and often cheeky narrative, first-time author Skaife puts a human face on the Beefeaters (aka Yeoman Warders)-the ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London-and the distinctive ravens under their care. According to legend, these birds merit special concern because if they depart, "the Tower itself will crumble into dust and great harm will befall the kingdom," writes Skaife. Short, entertaining chapters juxtapose history and myth with ornithological facts and an inside look at one of London's most popular attractions. Skaife introduces readers to the Tower's seven ravens and shares stories illustrating their quirky personalities (Merlina, for example, has a keen eye for Pringle's potato chips, which she spots and steals from pedestrians), and chronicles his childhood, military career, and rise to ravenmaster, "the oddest job in Britain." Balancing fascinating tidbits (a raven's need for order and routine) with macabre details (blood-soaked dog biscuits and ghostly sightings), he titillates as he educates, rehabilitating the gloomy reputation of the raven. Skaife's conversational style and disarming candor make this a rollicking tale fit for nearly any armchair adventurer. Agent: Anna Sproul-Latimer, Ross Yoon Agency (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The author's official title is Yeoman Warder of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, but you can call him Ravenmaster. Skaife is in charge of the care and feeding of seven ravens who live at the Tower of London. These are no ordinary ravens; they're symbols. According to legend, if the ravens should ever leave the Tower, the Tower itself will crumble into dust and great harm will befall the kingdom. This is an utterly fascinating book about one of those subjects you never thought you'd be interested in until, well, you were. Skaife takes us through his daily routine when he's not tending to the birds, he's dealing with the hungry foxes that keep sneaking into the Tower or fielding questions about the birds from visitors, journalists, and others and he introduces us to the ravens, each of whom has his or her unique personality. Here's something you probably wouldn't expect: as a treat, on top of their regular diet (rats, mostly, bought in bulk), the ravens enjoy eating dog biscuits soaked in blood. Skaife is a very good storyteller, and the book is full of the kind of anecdote that would make a great scene in a movie (like, for instance, the time one of the ravens orchestrated a daring escape from the Tower). A splendid and constantly surprising book.--David Pitt Copyright 2018 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
Legend has it that if the ravens of the Tower of London ever leave, the kingdom will fall. Hence the need for a ravenmaster. And that's where Skaife comes in. In this memoir, he dives into the day-to-day minutiae of the birds' care and keeping, their habits and history, and the journey that led him to become their steward. As ravenmaster, a post he took up after more than two decades of military service, Skaife is responsible for more than just the birds. He serves as a tour guide, a ceremonial guard and an amateur historian, bridging the distance between Britain's past and present. An earnest and exuberant custodian, he's enthralled by the mythologies of the ravens and the storied, haunted tower they inhabit. His esoteric topic at times clashes with the clunky colloquialisms Skaife deploys when talking about himself. He identifies with the birds, drawing parallels between his identity as a soldier and the symbolism of the ravens, since both are associated with death. But to his readers the connection can feel like a bit of a stretch - personally meaningful but not particularly effective on the page. Thankfully, the awkward analogizing is soon forgotten as Skaife plumbs the depths of his knowledge of raven lore, of their place in history and in literature. And he becomes more poetic in his recollections of his life as he shares memories from his time in the military and his love for his wife. Ultimately, Skaife's enthusiasm is contagious. He is entirely likable, and even if the raison d'etre for his memoir isn't immediately clear, the corner of British history that he lives, breathes and embodies is illuminated by his efforts.
Guardian Review
Blood-soaked biscuits and disembowelled pigeons in a wonderfully personal account of life with the ravens Christopher Skaife has what he describes as "the oddest job in Britain". His official title is Yeoman Warder of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London. He is one of the former soldiers who are selected to be the ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London and custodians of its ancient rituals. As if that isn't Gormenghastian enough, Skaife is also the Tower's ravenmaster, responsible for the safety and welfare of the seven fearsome, black-as-night corvids on whose continued residence at the Tower the fate of the nation depends, at least according to legend. As Skaife neatly puts it: "I look after the ravens - and the ravens look after us." Skaife grew up in Dover; at the age of 16, after some run-ins with the police and fights with local gangs, he left to join the army: "My parents probably thought, well, if it's not that, he's going to end up in jail." It was, he says, "the best decision I ever made". After two decades of military service he applied to be a Yeoman Warder. He admits the ravens are now "my life". His daily routine begins when he steps out of his apartment in the walls of the Tower at 5.30: "There's no one around, just me and the shadows of a thousand years of history". As well as giving tours to visitors, he is responsible for releasing the ravens in the morning, ensuring they are watered and fed (apparently for a treat they get dog biscuits soaked in blood) and rounding them up at night - no easy task, one that has involved hazardous night-time climbs on scaffolding and across rooftops. A natural storyteller, Skaife writes with affection and insight about these powerful, unpredictable and highly intelligent birds. Ravens are big: some two feet high, with a wingspan of up to four feet and weighing two and a half pounds. They are equipped with a vicious beak ("as good as any axe or razor") and powerful talons. He was once summoned by the sound of tourists screaming: a raven had caught a pigeon and was eating it "from the inside out while it was still alive" next to a queue for the Jewel House. With their iridescent black plumage, the birds have long been associated with death and war. They are, he says, "the soldier's natural ally". This is not a work of natural history but a wonderfully personal account. "In learning about the ravens," Skaife writes, "I have discovered a lot about what it means to be a human: I've learned to listen, to observe, and to be still. The ravens have been my teachers and I have been their pupil." - PD Smith.
Kirkus Review
When the ravens disappear from the Tower of London, the tale goes, then England will fallgood reason to keep someone on staff to keep the birds happy.What's the difference between a raven and a crow? No, it's not that one's for the crockpot and one for the oven. There's much more to it than that, and one of the best people to tell you about the matter is "Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife, of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and member of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary," as the author identifies himself. Rather more informally, he's the Ravenmaster, the fellow who looks after the resident raven population at the famed Tower of London. This is no easy job; Skaife writes with rueful authority of having to overcome his understandable fears of being put in a cage to study, up close, a bird that for all purposes might as well have been a condor at first glance. His affection for the birds has evolved, though, and he writes movingly of the many ways in which harm can come to themincluding, strangely enough, being hurt in a fall. "These days," he writes, "if a raven dies unexpectedly at the Tower and I'm not sure of the cause of death, I take it to the vets at the London Zoo for a post-mortem." As for the legend, supposedly dating to the time of Charles II, that the health of the birds is correlated to the health of the Crown, Skaife does a nice bit of historical archaeology to dig up evidence for the legend, which turns out to be more modern than advertised. It's no H Is for Hawk as a literary achievement, but Skaife's account delivers a pleasing set of anecdotes that will appeal to the Atlas Obscura-reading crowd, to say nothing of corvid fans.For those seeking the secrets of the Tower of London without actually being imprisoned there, this is just the thing. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Debut author Skaife provides insight into his job as a caregiver for ravens in the Tower of London. Living a pampered existence and viewed with intense public interest and affection, these birds are "royals," albeit of the feathered kind. Disavowing any claim to scientific rigor, Skaife is yet a keen student of all things raven, noting authorities in historical and ornithological fields and adding his own sharp observations of his charges' routines and behaviors. The author critically considers the lore associated with the birds, the most famous and cherished being that if the ravens leave the Tower, the monarchy will fall. The human element also figures in-how Skaife, a wayward lad, finds his path through military service, going on to serve both Queen and corvids with honor. Although some readers may chafe at the ravens' wings being clipped to keep them close, Skaife maintains that this is a balanced approach to maintaining tradition while allowing the birds to be "as free and as wild as possible." VERDICT The qualities that make Skaife a popular tour guide, such as his gentle humor and ability to break down rich history into entertaining and digestible bits, carry over nicely in this memoir.-Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont. © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
