Why a Booktrail?
1910 – The tale of an orphaned London schoolgirl and her governess’s journey to South America
Journey to the River Sea
What you need to know before your trail
Maia is an orphan. Accompanied by her rather strict and formidable governess Miss Minton, leaves the familiar comforts of her boarding school to start a new life. She is being sent to life with distant relatives over a thousand miles from the mouth of the Amazon river.
As they journey to the middle of the jungle however, they enter a magical and fascinating world. This magic is real however and the rich detail they see, the creatures they find and the world they discover is one of lush green landscapes and hidden wonders. Her classmates have warned her of dangerous beasts but it’s not these creatures that Maia should be afraid of. For when she meets her relatives, that’s where the real danger lies.
Travel Guide
Now if you were sent away to live somewhere deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, you would hope for an adventure and in Journey to the River Sea, this is exactly what you get.
Maia at first imagines the delights of what she will see in the lush green rainforest – the brightly coloured birds and the gigantic butterflies. Despite her friends telling her to watch out for the deadly crocodiles and the murderous Indians, she is looking forward to the adventure of her life despite not really wanting to go to strange relatives she has never met.
The journey starts when Maia sets off from her boarding school, with all her possessions in a suitcase. But before she knows it she is caught up in the hot and humid jungle. What is this place where she is going and what will her relatives be like?
She finds that her relatives are horrible people and try desperately to keep the jungle at bay with fly sprays and traps. Maia however makes friends with the locals and finds the jungle fascinating –
“Those who think of the Amazon as a Green Hell bring only their own fears and prejudices to this amazing land. For whether a place is a hell or a heaven rests in yourself, and those who go with courage and an open mind may find themselves in Paradise”
Maia and her governess both learn a lot about their new environment, and soon Maia meets a boy about to go further in to the rainforest and into Brazil to find his Indian Mother’s people. She also meets Clovis who travels the world with a theatre troupe.
The Amazon setting is evoke so vividly that you can smell the soil, feel the humidity on your face and hear the leaves rustling as you read.
Booktrailer Review
Susan:
I just love this book and can honestly say that as soon as I’d read it, I felt as if I’d really been on the same journey as Maia. This book really sucks you in and keeps you at the heart of the story. The very thought that someone could be sent away to such a new environment and be treated the way Maia is by her own family broke my heart but the way she and her governess dealt with it all warmed the cockles of it back up again so all was well with the world again.
As the mystery deepens – why is the governess travelling with her? What is her family up to? Who really are the people she meets? – then the story becomes even more enchanting than it started.
The story is a lot meatier than you might think from the start as Maia really is tested in more ways than one. I just can’t praise this book enough on so many levels.
Where Next?
