Bellman & Black, Diane Setterfield

Never harm a rook. Aged 10, William Bellman uses his catapult to dispatch a young rook. William, along with three other boys, Luke, Fred and cousin Charles deny the bird a decent burial, they will pay dearly for that disrespect.

William grows up to be a good businessman, and a loving husband and father. When tragedy strikes and threatens his most precious possession, William gets a visit from a Mr. Black. Black proposes a partnership and so a very strange (some would say macabre) new venture is born.