Kathleen, who much prefers the name Cricket by the way, is disappointed. Her best friend is going to Hawaii for her school holidays. Where is Cricket going? An island. Not an
island resort, but an island with nothing on it except a cottage and an abandoned lighthouse. Her mum is a writer and loves to find quiet hideaways to write in her summer break from her job as a teacher.
Kathleen’s dad is a food scientist, but his passion is birds and insects, so he too is excited about the remote getaway. What does Cricket think about it – not anything positive. She figures she will spend her time on her phone or on her grandfather’s borrowed laptop. She is allowed to take her pets – Boris (tortoise), Matilda (Cat) and Peanut & Toffee (chickens won in a school raffle).
The trip is long and finally they get to Port Linton where they are to meet the man who will take them across to Jacob Island in his boat. It takes two trips and it’s darker than a black hole by the time they get everything in the house. Candle power is the only light they have (when they finally find them), and what’s even worse – there’s no phone or internet either.
Just as Cricket is dropping off to sleep she’s sure she heard something. Something musical, and definitely not the wind.
Mum gets writing, dad gets fixing (as well as he can) and Cricket sorts out safe places for her animals. The cottage is much more run down than the photo she saw of it online shows, but she begins to like it on the island, intrigued by the abandoned lighthouse and trips with her parents exploring their summer home.
When she learns the lighthouse was built after a terrible shipping tragedy on the island’s reef, Kathleen wants to know more. She has felt something definitely different on the island. Who is Jacob? Why name an island after him?
This novel is dedicated to the lives lost in the sinking of the steamer SS Tararua near Waipapa Point Southland NZ on 3oth April 1881.
Main character Cricket (Kathleen) is confident, quirky and likeable as she narrates her tale in this summer adventure story. She talks directly to the reader, and we also hear her thoughts as she settles in to her summer island home.
She likes using ‘Definitely…’ statements. Her parents are definitely different / dorky / dinosaurs. Her dad is definitely deficient in all things practical and the cottage long drop is definitely disgusting!
When she learns of a terrible maritime tragedy that happened on the island many years before, she is intrigued, drawing the reader into the mystery. She’s heard and felt strange things herself and wants to know more. The more she delves into it, the stronger the connection with the past develops.
Author – Elizabeth Pulford
Age 7+
Learn more about the 1881 SS Tararua Sinking here
(2021, Bateman Books, Adventure, NZ Author, Based on Maritime Disaster, SS Tararua, 1881, Drowning, Supernatural, Violin, Island, Exploring, Beach, Tides, Shipwreck, History, Animals, Mystery, Intrigue, Humour, Sea Mist, Friendship)