The Lost Island of Tamarind

Nadia Aguiar

- 4.8 • 16 Ratings

- £7.99

- £7.99

Three children. Alone on the ocean waves, after a fierce storm throws their parents from the Pamela Jane into the icy waters below. Maya, Simon and Penny now face a wild rescue adventure that will lead them to a truly magical place . . .

Imagine an island with green mountains looming over pink sandy beaches and tide pools lit by the moon. An island with the darkest of secrets, where pirates lurk and jaguars roam – and a precious stone holds a power that is both wondrous and terrifying. This is where the children must go.

No one from the Outside has escaped the island before. Danger is everywhere. But they can’t turn back now. Could you?

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 27 OCT 2008

Aguiar's exciting debut novel is a cross between Peter Pan and Lost. Thirteen-year-old Maya Nelson is sick of living at sea on the Pamela Jane with her brother, Simon, and baby sister, Penny, while her parents conduct research. After a sudden storm, Maya's parents fall overboard and Maya desperately sails the boat, landing on Tamarind, an island that has been the setting for ongoing stories told by her father and that has been cut off from the outside world. Ruled by pirates and devastated by civil war, the island poses one peril after another. As Maya and Simon hike through dense jungle, tending to Penny, they meet dynamic characters including the orphan Helix, a jaguar-riding child stealer and a girl who looks uncannily like Maya. When pirates kidnap Simon and Penny, Maya must race to find her parents and rescue her siblings. Developed with seeming ease, each new character advances the plot logically and fluidly. The storytelling, intricate as it is, builds to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. All signs point to a sequel one that readers won't want to miss. Ages 10 14.

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