Date Released: July 8th 2011
Pages: 254 pages
Date Read: 2/10/12
Format: PDF
Source: Author
Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Julia finds herself leaving her London life behind to move with her parents to the Amazon jungle.
A native descendant, she becomes familiarized with her own roots for the first time in her life. However, she never imagines she is about to discover much more than her own past but also just how crowded our little planet is...
This is a present time sci-fi/ fantasy story about trust, friendship, love and self-discovery.
This book falls into the category of YA fiction, though not unsuitable for younger readers.
Sixteen-year-old Julia finds herself leaving her London life behind to move with her parents to the Amazon jungle.
A native descendant, she becomes familiarized with her own roots for the first time in her life. However, she never imagines she is about to discover much more than her own past but also just how crowded our little planet is...
This is a present time sci-fi/ fantasy story about trust, friendship, love and self-discovery.
This book falls into the category of YA fiction, though not unsuitable for younger readers.
From Goodreads
My Review:
Swirls is one of the most intriguing books I've ever read. For starters, the summary doesn't give too much away, so the moment I started reading, the big question came to my mind: WHAT? lucky for me this wasn't annoying, it was more like a "What is going on? I want to know! I need to know!" sorta thing.
We start with Julia ready to leave London and go live in the Amazon - she's not too happy about this. Also, she's not too happy with the strange dreams she's been having, especially the part were they torture her... But along with her arrival to the Amazon, a new friend comes - Lola, I Looooved her as a character! - Family secrets, a mysterious tribe leader, a hot boy and a not-so-nice mother [that would be an understatement].
Julia has a very special gift, and soon she finds herself being a very important part of this secret world. I really enjoyed this book and I loved the original world that F.A. Hershey created.
A fitting title, an original story, and a great book with an ending that will leave you wanting for more!
Excerpt from Swirls by F. A. Hershey:
My feet were killing me by now. The twigs and protruded roots felt more like whips lashing on my legs and arms as we walked through the forest’s non-existent paths. Halola and the guide were just a few paces in front of me, and it was clear that walking through the jungle felt like home to them.
I struggled my way through with more determination I thought myself capable of. They often paused and waited for me to catch up, but I just waved them on. I wanted to make myself endure the challenge and overcome it.
When I woke up this morning, I knew that this was going to be a challenge, but that was a challenge I was glad to accept. I was also glad to have something else to think about rather than Gabriel. I’d put on Halola’s hiking boots, my old jeans and a long sleeved shirt to protect my arms from mosquito bites, put on my best courageous face and left my room to meet Halola by the Reception.
What I wasn’t too well prepared for was the weight I would have to carry. I had a load of what felt like a ton of lead strapped to my back, which sometimes made me lose my balance. I’d have fallen backwards to the floor if it wasn’t for trunks of trees, bless them, to hold me up.
‘I’m doing great, don’t worry about me. The view is fantastic!’ I lied, not very convincingly though because the lie didn’t match the straining look I’m sure I had on my face. But I wasn’t lying about the view. It was fantastic.
I felt infinitesimally small compared to the tall, ancient trees around me. I could barely see the sky above my head and the sun’s rays struggled to find their way through the branches.
‘How are you doing?’ Halola asked me every now and then. She pitied me, but her hands were tied. There was no way she could help me much, because she too was carrying a massive load of food on her back.
The more we walked, the trickier it became to walk a straight line. I wondered every now and then if the guide really knew where he was going or if he was just as clueless and lost as I was.
I knew we had walked quite a long way when my hair was matted with sweat and my clothes were so sticky with sweat and dirt and green mould I could have just gone for a swim in the river with my clothes on.
‘We’re almost there,’ Halola spoke over her shoulder, as if reading my worried thoughts.
‘How do you know?’
‘Do you see that giant Kapok tree over there?’ she pointed to a magnificently tall tree that seemed to have been purposefully arranged to be the centre of things, somehow outshining and towering the other trees around it. If Halola, the guide and I joined hands we wouldn’t be able to encircle it all the way, so thick it was.
‘Yes, but there are others like that all over the place.’
‘Yes and no,’ Halola said smiling, ‘This tree here is very special because it’s been here for a long time – much longer than the others of its kind.’
‘And it’s been protected by the Kanuayeds since they settled here,’ added the guide.
‘My grandmother said the tribe has lived here for more than a thousand years,’ I said, remembering what Gran had told me so many times since I was a little girl.
I remembered her stories about the tribe life she always cherished so much. Now walking the paths I’m sure she would be able to walk with her eyes closed, I could imagine more vividly what she always tried to make me visualise and feel about her life here as a young girl – about my age actually. She left for England as a young woman of twenty.
***
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