Friday, 13 August 2010

........................Castaways of the Flying Duchman

Our summer holidays found us in a little English village.

Whilst exploring, we found a tiny antique shop and took a look inside.

Being myself, I looked for the book section. I found it in a cold, dark corner of the shop and immediately the book jumped out at me.

The cover was compelling with its tattered ship and dramatic scene of a half-drowned boy holding on to his black dog. It made one NEED to read it. I looked at the tag and it was only 50p. Yes, it was mine.


SUMMARY

A young, mute boy fled his dominant stepbrothers as they pursued him towards the harbour. Cornered there, with nowhere left to hide, the eldest - a fat, ugly boy pushes him off the sheer wharf-drop. Knowing that their mute stepbrother is unable to swim, they leave him for dead.

Gasping for air, the mute boy grabs hold of a rope, carelessly left off-board by a drunken deckhand and pulls himself up . . . . .

Discovered by cruel ship cook and named Nebuchadnezzar or Neb for short, he survives to face a still difficult and unpleasant life as the ships galley boy.

During a short stop at a foreign port he unexpectedly befriends a stray black dog and together they end up having many, many adventures.

**I thought the book was amazing !!! I cant wait to read the sequel (The Angel's Command) which I just saw on Amazon.co.uk
image from http://www.amazon.co.uk/Castaways-Flying-Dutchman-Brian-Jacques/dp/0141312114/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281698890&sr=1-1


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