Beyond The Western Sea: Book One: The Escape From Home - Hardcover

Avi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0531088634 ISBN 13: 9780531088630

Publisher: Scholastic, 1996

Synopsis

In 1851, Maura and Patrick O'Connell, driven from their Irish home by a cruel English landlord, join the landlord's younger son, Laurence Kirkle, fleeing an abusive family situation, on a journey that takes them to the port of Liverpool on the first step of their quest to reach America.

About this title

About the Author

Avi's work spans nearly every genre and has received nearly every major prize, including the 2003 Newbery Medal for Crispin: The Cross of Lead. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-10. Avi's last historical novel, The Barn (1994), was a spare story about a boy at home. Nothing could be more different than this pulsing 1850s emigrant adventure (at 300 pages, it's only book 1), packed with action and with a huge cast of villains and heroes. The first chapter grabs you: poor Irish peasants Maura O'Connell, 15, and her brother, Patrick, 12, see their home destroyed. They leave for Liverpool to board a ship for America. Their father has sent money from New York, but their mother is too broken to go, and they must make the journey alone. Interwoven with their story is that of their English landlord's son, 11-year-old Sir Laurence Kirkle, who, hotly pursued by friend and foe, has run away from his unhappy home. Although the historical research is never obtrusive, there's an authentic sense of the Liverpool dockside slums, with the desperate pressed together in a foul, teeming hell. The young lord's story is not as compelling as that of the O'Connells, especially since it's not easy to keep straight which schemer is pursuing him and why, but every chapter ends with a cliffhanger, and the suspense builds as they all converge on the same ship sailing for America. At the climax, Laurence is a stowaway in deadly danger. Great for reading aloud, the vivid scenes and larger-than-life characters also lend themselves to readers' theater. The comedy is both grotesque and sinister. As in Dickens' works, coincidence is not just a plot surprise but a revelation that those who appear to be far apart--the powerful and the "failures" --are, in fact, intimately connected. Now we have to wait for book 2. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0531088634
• ISBN 13: 9780531088630
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 295