Selina Penaluna, by Jan Page

2009, Corgi

371 pages

Review copy

Children's, 12+

Cushions: 1/5

Paperclips: 3/5

Tissues: 2/5

Yunaleska's recommended rating: ♥♥♥♥

Evacuation stories conjure up images of war, children separated from families, possibly mistreated. They don't usually include mermaids. Or, as they are in Selina Penaluna, merrymaids.

Selina Penaluna believes when her mother dropped her into the sea as a child, it wasn't her, but a different child. She is a child of the sea, not of the land. All her life she longs for the sea which she lives beside, she yearns to escape life with her father, whose inappropriate behaviour attributed to the content rating.

All is not doom and gloom: there is light in the world when London evacuees Ellen and Jack arrive in Cornwall. Selina, whose beauty and mysterious presence captivates all her see her, provides Jack with the only happiness to be found in his new home. Unlike Ellen, Jack doesn't take to being an evacuee very well. Ellen thrives under their new guardians' care, mucking in with all the housework and fulfilling Jack's chores when he hurries off to be with Selina. Ellen doesn't trust Selina. There's something about the strange girl which gets her back up. Will Selina drive an inseparable wedge between the twins?

This is a brilliant telling of what life could have been like for evacuees. Not every child had a happy time in the country. I feel its a good portrayal also of how physical abuse can muck a person up. I feel perhaps, due to the content (a few detailed scenes of intimate relations) the age range could have been increased for this book. The incidents play a large role in the plot, which takes such sharp twists that my neck was wrenched as I reached them. The fantasy touch of merrymaids adds a fresh approach to evacuation stories.

I liked how the past told from different points of view is intermingled with Ellen's perspective from the present. The past of anyone's lives always shapes the future. People shouldn't get stuck in the past, but I believe this book shows that some issues in the past need to be resolved before they can move on with life in the present.

If you liked this, try The Lost Book of Salem, by Katherine Howe for stories which intertwine the past and present or The TV Time Travellers, by Pete Johnson, a reality show based book for younger readers.