Everlasting

by Angie Frazier

Overview

THE LUXE meets A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY meets INDIANA JONES.Sailing aboard her father's ship is all seventeen-year-old Camille Rowen has ever wanted. But as a lady in 1855 San Francisco, her future is set: marry a man she doesn't love in order to preseve her social standing. On her last voyage before the wedding, Camille learns the mother she has always believed dead is in fact alive and in Australia. When their Sydney-bound ship goes down in a gale, and her father dies, Camille sets out to find her mother and a map in her possession - a map believed to lead to a stone that once belonged to the legendary civilization of the (cont'd)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545283014
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	06/01/2010
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	605 KB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Angie Frazier is the author of the YA novels EVERLATING and THE ETERNAL SEA, as well as the middle grade novel THE MIDNIGHT TUNNEL. She lives in Southern New Hampshire with her husband and three daughters. Visit her online at www.angiefrazier.com

Editorial Reviews

Part romance, part adventure novel, Frazier's debut makes for a light summer read. In 1855 17-year-old Camille Rowen sets out from San Francisco with her father for one last sea voyage before entering into a passionless but financially advantageous marriage ("She had four months to dig through her soul and unearth the feelings she knew were hiding somewhere"). En route to Australia, the ship goes down in a storm and her father drowns, just after a mysterious letter surfaces from her supposedly dead mother, which involves an enchanted map and stone that holds the power of immortality. Camille finds herself stranded in Melbourne with the first mate, who (it's immediately evident) is the real love of her life, and they begin the arduous trip to Port Adelaide to meet her mother and search for the magic stone, which may be cursed. The characters never break out of their archetypal molds, and the somewhat discursive plot holds few surprises, despite the supernatural elements, but readers whose dreams of adventure and true love mirror Camille's will find her an easy heroine with whom to identify. Ages 12-up. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 8–10—In 1855, it is not proper for a young lady to sail on a trade ship, but 17-year-old Camille Rowen, raised by her "widowed" ship captain father, is allowed great freedom. The two embark on a last voyage, from San Francisco to Australia, before Camille marries a rich man to save her father's shipping business. Camille discovers that her father has been lying to her: her mother is alive, although gravely ill, in Port Adelaide. The woman is in possession of a treasure map that leads to a magical stone. When a fierce storm sinks the ship and kills Captain Rowen, she and a sailor for whom she has strong feelings are rescued and taken ashore in Australia. Frazier has created terrific, if slightly anachronistic, characters; they are feisty, strong, caring, smarmy, slick, dashing, and dastardly. The plot takes off with the ship and doesn't look back. The sailing tale turns into a treasure hunt with dark overtones and mysterious magical elements that never get in the way of the action. Frazier's descriptions are beautiful: the wild roiling of the ship in the storm, the oppressive closeness of a tiny room in hot weather, the strange beauty of the Australian outback all come to vivid life. This is a strong and charming debut.—Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT

School Library Journal

In 1855, the daughter of a well-to-do San Francisco merchant embarks on one final sea voyage with her father before she is to be married. A shipwreck later, she finds herself in Australia, where she must unravel the secrets she discovers have been kept from her all her life. Seventeen-year-old Camille was raised by her father after her mother died giving birth to her. Newly betrothed to his affable business partner, Camille is troubled by her lack of feeling for her fiance and by the stir of attraction she feels whenever she is around Oscar, the first mate on her father's ship. Camille's third-person narration is confessional in tone, and the tension between her and Oscar is appealing, but the latter is excessively protracted. The overall pace of the novel seems to slow once the ship sinks, and the subsequent cross-country trek drags. However, Camille is a nicely realized character-vulnerable yet determined-and the supernatural elements wrapped up in her background are a pleasantly chilling touch. (Historical fantasy. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews