Bren MacDibble takes us once again into the dystopian world of the future. This time the land is covered in water and small groups of people cling to life on tiny islands. Each island has it's own laws and rituals but there is room for some sharing between the communities and debris washed up from all the destroyed cities is now scavenged and adapted for use as shelters. Life feels difficult at times but the people have manged to make comfortable dwellings and they have access to plenty of fish. There is danger though - violent unpredictable storms, dangerous crocodiles, sickness and perhaps the threat of invasion or war.
As this story opens some strangers arrive at Cottage Hill - three tall people who speak a strange language. They are wearing shiny headbands and their boat has a sun image on the prow. It is clear they are powerful, wealthy and have come from a distant place known as Valley of the Sun. The three people, two sisters and a brother, climb the hill above the little island settlement and begin to cut down trees. Over the coming days they erect a tall pole and place two circles of logs around it. They hoist a metal box onto the top of the middle pole and attach wires which stretch down to the ground where they are buried under the inner circle of logs. After their task is completed the three strangers sail away. They refuse to answer any questions.
Old Marta, the leader of their island, knows all of this has something to do with 'teknology' but exactly why this strange contraption has been placed on their island is a mystery. Neoma and her friend Jag are told to go and sketch the box so Marta can take a drawing to show the inhabitants of other near-by islands in the hope they may know what all this means. Neoma is a curious and fearless girl. She digs into the dirt below the box, even though they have been told by the strangers not to touch any part of this installation. She receives a powerful electric shock and has to run quickly into the sea to put out the flames burning her skin and hair.
Jag and Neoma have managed to complete a drawing of the tower and box so Marta takes Neoma to visit the nearby islands. There is something odd about the island of Jacob's Reach. It is clear their leaders are not telling the truth and there must be some reason why there are no children around.
I think my favourite scene comes next when Neoma, her Ma and Jag head off to Silver Water in their makeshift catamaran
Licorice Stix. Silver Water is a high rise building which is now flooded. The kids climb up the stairs until they reach a former restaurant - well Neoma doesn't know it is a restaurant because she has never seen a place like this. No one has found this so it has not been looted and the kitchen is filled with food. It has been eleven years since the flood but the canned food is still okay so Neoma fills her sack. She and Jag then have to rush away because a very dangerous storm is approaching. I held my breath as Neoma's is forced to leap into the sea after tossing her salvage over the balcony rails.
On their way back, as the wild weather and water rages around them, they see a boat. It is the one that visited their island earlier - the one with the strangers from Valley of the Sun. The two women are in the boat. One is dead and one is badly hurt. What has happened? Are Neoma and her community now in danger? The people from Valley of the Sun will be back and they will want answers but no one has anticipated they will also want a payment and this payment comes in the form of a person. Jag is captured and taken prisoner and Neoma thinks this is all her fault and so it is up to her to rescue her friend and hopefully solve all the mysteries - the dead woman, the island of secrets, and most importantly to discover the purpose of device beaming a red light from the top of their island.
Bren MacDibble is a master storyteller. She gives her reader fragments of information that signpost past events and give a sense of place and of climate change:
"Marta was a young woman in the before-times. Before the risen sea drove everyone to the hills. ... She says when she was older she visited the great walled city of Sydney after most of it moved to New Armidale. She remembers when clouds were just white, she says the green is bacteria and it's the way the earth tries to make things right and clean ... "
"The surf coast was where the rich people lived, pretending it was safe from the flooding that was washing out the poorer coastal towns and making salty swamps of farmland. But Cyclone Summer sent six cyclones nose to tail and destroyed it. Survivors moved inland to a mountain range same as the poor people. But the sea rose so quick they din't get to take everything they owned."
My advance reader copy (thanks to
Beachside Bookshop) of
Across the risen sea has 270 pages but so much is contained within this thrilling story. I would summarise the plot into three 'acts'.
ACT 1. Installation of the 'teknology' on the island and the subsequent mystery of Jacob's Reach which is somehow linked to the death of the woman from Valley of the Sun. Jag is kidnapped.
ACT 2. The rescue of Jag which involves a dangerous pirate woman, a visit to the famed Valley of the Sun (
this place is utterly amazing) and the making of a new friend.
ACT 3. The full truth is revealed.
I am going to make a prediction that Across the risen sea will be short listed by the CBCA for their 2021 awards. AND even though it is only June (
this book is due for publication in August) I am going to predict Across the risen sea will be among the winners next year. YES it is that good! This is a thrilling story, a mystery, a story of heroism, pirates, survival and so much more. I read it all in nearly one sitting and I was on the edge of my seat through the whole amazing 'voyage'.
In her letter to the reader
Bren MacDibble says:
"I've let adventure lead me on a wild ride with this one. There's sinkholes, crocodiles, sharks, pirates, floating cities, and floating farms. I hope you and those you share books with will also enjoy the ride."
If you haven't discovered the powerful story telling of Bren MacDibble I suggest you RUSH out now and grab her earlier books:
