The Girl of Ink & Stars

LoveReading4Kids Says

Shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2017 | Winner in the Young Fiction category and the overall Winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2017

‘Here be dragons’ it says  on old maps, but Isabella finds creatures even more terrifying in the unchartered lands of Joya, the island that is her home. Joya is a place of limited horizons and hidden stories: the governor has closed its ports and banned travel by sea; half the island is out of bounds to the population.  When her friend the governor’s daughter gets lost in those Forgotten Territories, Isa accompanies the search party as a cartographer and, unknowing, follows the path of a girl whose brave defence of Joya has long since turned into myth.

Map-making and story-telling are linked, says the author, and we all carry the map of our lives on our skin. This is a magical adventure, beautifully told and full of striking ideas on themes of loyalty, courage and redemption. 

This will appeal to fans of Katherine Rundell, Frances Hardinge and Philip Womack.

Reviewed by Andrea Reece
Andrea Reece has spent almost her entire working life in children’s books, first as publisher, latterly as consultant, project manager and critic.
More reviews by Andrea Reece

About The Girl of Ink & Stars

Forbidden to leave her island, Isabella dreams of the faraway lands her cartographer father once mapped. When her friend disappears, she volunteers to guide the search.

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