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A review by silverliningsandpages
Alone on a Wide Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo
5.0
This had been on my TBR for two years and I finally read it in advance of hearing Morpurgo speak at the Borris Festival. It’s about British orphan Arthur who is separated from his sister after WW2 and sent to Australia as part of the programme of child migrants. He survives cruelty, abuse and exploitation on a working farm and later discovers he has a talent for yacht design. 60 years later, Arthur’s daughter Allie sets sail alone in a yacht designed by her father, resolved to find his long-lost sister in England.
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Well, I loved this story - it is both sad and joyful but above all, life-affirming. As I’m learning to expect with Morpurgo, this is primarily about love, loss, identity and memory. What I like about his writing is how his evocative stories draw the reader in, his characters are believable and while pitched at the right level for younger readers, he doesn’t shy away from important or difficult issues. Tears may have been shed, very satisfied ones though.
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My follow up from this will be to seek out and read The Ancient Mariner, which was beautifully weaved through the story, to very profound effect.
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A gorgeous, special story that’s still lingering in my memory
.
Well, I loved this story - it is both sad and joyful but above all, life-affirming. As I’m learning to expect with Morpurgo, this is primarily about love, loss, identity and memory. What I like about his writing is how his evocative stories draw the reader in, his characters are believable and while pitched at the right level for younger readers, he doesn’t shy away from important or difficult issues. Tears may have been shed, very satisfied ones though.
.
My follow up from this will be to seek out and read The Ancient Mariner, which was beautifully weaved through the story, to very profound effect.
.
A gorgeous, special story that’s still lingering in my memory