As the novel begins, Maia, whose parents were killed in a train crash in Egypt two years prior to the story’s events, is in geography class at the Mayfair Academy for Young Ladies, awaiting an important visit from the guardian of her trust fund: her parent’s lawyer, Mr. An English novelist known primarily for her children’s fiction, Ibbotson wrote this adventure story as a tribute to her late husband, who was a naturalist. Like many of Ibbotson's protagonists, Maia is an orphan -- and more than anything else she longs for family and a sense of belonging. However, Finn is loyal to his father’s wish that he escape the restrictions of aristocracy and live freely in nature. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that you can effortlessly picture the rainforest in all it’s wild, damp greenery as it unfolds with each chapter.

That experience -- of being uprooted -- was drawn on directly for novels like The Morning Gift (about a girl from a secular Jewish family escaping Nazi Germany) and indirectly, I suspect, for Maia, the young protagonist of Journey to the River Sea. When Maia arrives, however, the family is far from welcoming and she is saddened to see that they have blocked out all evidence of the rainforest from their stuffy home.I want to watch Clovis on stage at the Manaus Opera House, fan in hand against the stifling, muggy atmosphere. They had photographs of naked forest-dwellers in dug-out canoes or by their huts staring at the camera. The latter made me wonder if Ibbotson borrowed the latter's name from the equally objectionable Gwendolen in Diana Wynne Jones' Charmed Life. Journey To The River Sea’ is choc-a-bloc with exotic plants and animals and ably supported by well-etched characters.

Imagine arriving only to find that you're not wanted, only the large sum of money your parents have left you is. In fact, as we see, most of the children mentioned in this tale lose or have lost one or both of their parents.

For most proper young English ladies, this might be a tad intimidating; but she is determined to embrace the experience. Having said that, this is an original story -- partly because of the unusual setting -- and one of the best-loved in the Ibbotson oeuvre. Content Warning: This guide discusses the source text’s use of outdated and offensive terms to discuss Indigenous cultures and its portrayal of colonial stereotypes of Indigenous people. Eva Ibbotson, if still with us, would have been celebrating her 90th birthday in January 2015, but sadly she died in 2010. It relit my ten year old self's yen for adventure and for things completely different to all I've known.