I read Journey to the River Sea years ago, probably over a decade ago. I loved it so much that it featured on my list of all-time favourite books for a long time. Eventually, I realised that even though I still thought about it as one of my favourites, I didn’t quite remember the story. I remembered all the emotions I felt when I read it, but the story? I just had a hazy idea. It was time to reread it.
And I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Maia’s guardian Mr Murray has been hunting for relatives who will take the child in ever since her parents died. When he finds distant relatives of hers in the Amazon, she is ecstatic. She reads up about the Amazon and imagines all kinds of wonderful things about her family. Instead, she finds two very English girls who hate everything that’s not English and are terrified of going out into the jungle.
As Maia quickly gets disenchanted with her new family, she finds friendship, love and belonging elsewhere. She is one who lives for the journey, not the destination, and the Amazon forest is all kinds of magical for a child who needs only beauty to make her happy. Journey to the River Sea is a gorgeous story about differences and similarities, about finding courage, and about being brave enough to recognise what you really want.
| Title | Journey to the River Sea |
| Author | Eva Ibbotson |
| Tags | Late Middle-Grade, Young Adult, Adventure, Reread |
| Rating (out of 5) | 4.5 |
| Age-group | 12+ |
Other books by Eva Ibbotson that I’ve read and reviewed:
- Magic Flutes (YA)
- The Star of Kazan (YA)
- The Dragonfly Pool (YA)
- The Haunting of Hiram (MG)
- Not Just a Witch (MG)
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