The drive from Cornwall is a long way to the tiny island of Unst in Shetland, Scotland. Julia, her parents and much
loved cat Noodle are headed for a lighthouse her dad is going to automate. Her marine biologist mum is really excited about following a research project on the elusive Greenland Shark.
This animal lives life extremely slowly, usually far below the surface in the seas far above Shetland. This existence also enables them to live long lives – something Julia’s mum is keen to study to apply to human longevity.
Living in a lighthouse is different from the moment they arrive, it’s walls circular and its furniture that doesn’t quite fit properly. Julia too feels this way at first. The tiny town has a library however and she believes she can fill her time with reading. A visit with her mum reveals an answer to a question she already has about her new home.
When exploring the lighthouse the day before, Julia caught a boy on the high outside balcony. He fled before she could say a word. Appearing between the library bookshelves, he surprises Julia again, but this time they exchange introductions and Julia is hopeful, with Kin to talk to, Unst won’t be so lonely after all.
Mum is soon away for entire days and even longer, searching for her shark. Dad is busy working on the complicated wiring needed to automate the lighthouse, and Julia is navigating her new tentative friendship with Kin. It’s complicated though, with Kin taunted by a local bully.
Life inside the lighthouse feels unsettled too as Mum’s funding applications aren’t going to plan. Tension builds as Mum’s behaviour changes as time runs out to find her shark, the wiring is more perplexing than Dad imagined and Julia and Kin’s bully moves past name calling.
Everything comes to a head deep in the night, Julia wondering if she is ultimately to blame. Mum has taken drastic measures and wanting to fix things, Julia does the same.
Julia and the Shark is a beautiful story about family, hopes, dreams and sometimes how frail things can be underneath when outside forces interfere with those dreams. Mental illness is a key part of the novel (Bi Polar) as Julia’s mum’s dreams to find her shark become as elusive as the animal itself.
The rolling waves of this illness and then gradual process downwards is portrayed gently and honestly, and also with an equally authentic and positive outcome.
Their seagoing cat Noodle is a key part of the family and a light inside the story and lighthouse. A special part of this novel is Julia’s dreamscapes shown in poetry and imagery of the sea and shark, and the stars Kin is teaching Julia about.
The more elusive the shark is in her mum’s search, the closer it gets to Julia in her nightmares. This blend of conscious thought and dreams mixing together is both eye catching, poetic and also ratchets up Julia’s inner tension.
Beautiful, sad, redemptive, and hopeful.
Author – Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Illustrator – Tom de Freston
Age – 9+
(2021, Hachette, Sea life, Astronomy, Marine Biologist, Lighthouse, Scotland, Island, Bullying, Poetry, Dreams, Nightmares, Greenland Shark, Environment, Ocean, Science, Electricity, Study, Funding applications, Hope)