Illustrated: Kimberley Walker
‘They were no more than a pinprick of light amid the storm. But they were safe. They were together.’ (p 152)
The one before
Tania Unsworth is another of my favourite ‘children’s’ authors of recent years. Always highly original and inventive, her books often have a rather dark, challenging side to them too. Her writing consistently has remarkable richness and sophistication whilst remaining accessible to her intended audience. (I would say generally about 9yrs through to early teens, although this always depends on individual interest. Certainly, her books have more than enough about then to fully engage many older readers too.) Although always well received critically, I cannot understand why she is not garnering major awards right left and centre. Her books are every bit as special as many that do.
Her first children’s novel The One Safe Place is, for me, up with the very finest debuts in the genre. Even though the premise at its heart is rather wildly speculative, it is full of wonderfully evoked individual young characters and its highly original story is a paradigm of plotting; every element of its complex denouement carefully but unobtrusively threaded in beforehand. Many a mystery writer could learn much from this disturbing story of children lured to a mysterious ‘Home’. It is thematically rich, inventive and intriguing. It can be amusing, moving and is always deeply thoughtful. I would put it on a par with Louis Sachar’s Holes and fail to understand why it does not have the same level of recognition. It is high time for a reprint, or better still a new edition.
The one now
Her latest book is another triumph. It is one of those stories that, as a bald synopsis, probably wouldn’t sound like it amounted to very much. Yet in the hands of this talented writer it amounts to a very great deal indeed. How best to explain it? Imagine Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome crossed with Betsy Byers’ Pinballs, with elements of Katherine Rundell’s The Explorer and a very good dollop of Sara Pennypacker’s brilliant Here in the Real World. That was a way of putting it - not very satisfactory.* Because I don’t imagine you can imagine that. And anyway Nowhere Island isn’t really like any of those; it is very much its own book. I’ll try again. It is a kind of adult-free adventure, with four emotionally disturbed but superficially resilient kids, surviving in an (ersatz) remote wilderness that appears to be an idyllic sanctuary.
Like many of Tania Unsworth’s books, the premise is somewhat far-fetched, a clear fiction, but her story’s characters and their situation feel alive and real through every moment of its telling. That’s because they reflect deeply human truth, the thoughts and emotions of very real kids.
Four on Nowhere Island
It is a story of children who have been damaged by fate, by life, but principally by the adults who should care for them (either bad or absent). Gil lost both parents in a mysterious accident and has since been passed from foster pillar to foster post by a well-intentioned but inadequate care system. Brothers Riley and Grayson have run from an abusive, violent single-parent father, whilst the elective mute girl, Pez, has an even more disturbing back story. They are all vividly drawn, their personalities piquantly caught, each idiosyncratic, but nevertheless richly real.
The four children pitch up in what is in effect a neglected wilderness, an ‘island’ of land that has been stranded between major roads. It may be hard to imagine a near paradise of nature in the middle of a motorway intersection, but that is exactly what Tania Unsworth does, and she conjures the place for us with vivid sensuality.
‘The air was still, too warped by heat to stir, and even the sun seemed motionless, a burning nail hammered into the flat blue wall of the sky.’ (p 130)
In fact Tania Unsworth’s writing is shot through with evocative descriptions, of place, atmosphere and weather as well as of people and events. Yet the compelling momentum of her involving story is only heightened, never abandoned.
The kids scavenge for food, befriend wild animals, witness a crash on the nearby motorway and survive a destructive storm. Through it all they learn more about themselves and each other, about what is important in their lives, and the bonds between them grow into something very special. But it is the story’s most fictionalised event, occurring near the end of the narrative, that actually brings them against the reality of their situation.
Nowhere safe
In this latest novel Tania Unsworth has essentially returned to the theme of her first, the need for children to find a safe place. But what the children in this book find is that their true safe place is not Nowhere Island itself. It is not really a place at all.
This story may be about children, but it is a deep and resonant tale of human tragedy and resilience. It also touches affectingly on the healing power of nature and on the importance of story, both as a survival strategy and as an envisioning of potential futures. I will say no more about the plot, except that, whilst the the end may not be realistic, it is nonetheless real - and truly uplifting.
Despite its traumas, its conflicts and its occasional smiles, this is actually a rather quiet, sensitive book, or at least its writing is. But in this it shows the author’s very real talent; that you don’t need to say too much to say an awful lot. It is not only an enjoyable and engaging book but a truly fine work of children’s literature.
More Before
Tania Unsworth’s two previous books, The Girl Who Thought Her Mother Was a Mermaid and The Time Traveller and the Tiger are both still available from Zephyr and are strongly recommended too. An earlier title The Secret Life of Daisy Fitzjohn (published in USA as Brightwood) may be a little harder to get hold off, but is also well worth seeking out.
*Sorry T.S.E.