by I tell anyone who’s unwary enough to stop and listen that this book is about me. At least, I qualify, its heroine and I are roughly the same age and it’s almost set in Moray where I was that teenager in the 1980s! The fishing industry and its future, which form part of the backdrop of this book, are concerns I recognise.
Saskia’s Journey by Carnegie Medal winner Theresa Breslin is a story of self-discovery, family secrets and a journey to the north east of Scotland now and then. It’s set in a fishing community very like the one I group up in and depicts it very well. Like Saskia, I was an outsider. To belong in Lossiemouth means you and your family have lived there for generations. Being an outsider wasn’t bad and didn’t mean I wasn’t accepted. But I was set a little apart from the locals. To be fair, so were the people from Hopeman six miles along the coast!
Theresa Breslin is a remarkable writer who never lets her research get in the way of telling a good story. She uses all the knowledge she acquires without ever letting her readers see her hard work. Her plots and characters unfold and develop naturally. That is why I read her books. With hindsight I see I have absorbed information and pondered situations but, as I read, only the story matters.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Saskia’s Journey is my favourite of Theresa’s books. But I’d happily recommend any of them to you.
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