I thought about this book for days after I finished reading it. I sincerely wish it didn't end the way it did, but I did like the book a lot. I love books where you see growth in all the main characters. This story is about a family (Dominic and his three children, Raff, Fen, and Orly) who live on a very small island near Antarctica called Shearwater. They were living on the island with a research team and the world's largest seed bank. The seeds stored on Shearwater were from every species of plant worldwide. Some were simply unique and exotic; others were seeds for growing food. The food seeds could save humanity if most of the population was wiped out.
One night a woman is washed up onto their beach with the seals. She is barely alive, but Fen discovers her and gets help. They manage to save her life and give her a home to heal. The woman's name is Rowan and she came from a boat (piloted by one man) that didn't survive the arrival to Shearwater. Dominic doesn't understand why she was coming to the island (she isn't exactly forthcoming with any answers) and he is suspicious of her. Meanwhile, Rowan doesn't trust Dominic because she was expecting to see the research team (including her husband!) when she arrived on the island and no one is on the island except the Salts (Dominic & kids). They tell Rowan that the research team had already left the island (since the severe weather and significant storms were sinking the island itself so it was no longer safe to be there.) Rowan doesn't believe this necessarily because she knows her husband, as the team leader, would never leave the seed bank.
As the reader, you know that everyone is keeping secrets, but you don't know what they are each hiding. Come to find out, they are each and every one hiding something important that impacts the events that occur. Very good storytelling. I really liked each of the characters, and yet I wondered about each of them. Can they really be trusted? As the story unfolds, understanding happens and the characters, who are each "broken", start healing. I very much enjoyed their journey to healing. As the island falls farther into the sea, and the storms grow fiercer, threatening all of their lives, the ship finally arrives to rescue them and what seeds they can save (a small pittance compared to how many were stored there.) I truly wanted a happy ending. I didn't get it, but it's a remarkable read.
Wendy's Rating: ****1/2
No comments:
Post a Comment