December '11/January '12: The Salt-Stained Book by Julia Jones

Our last read was The Salt-Stained Book by Julia Jones, volume 1 of her Strong Winds trilogy.

Here's the blurb from the back of the book:

"In 1945, two brothers die in the icy Barents Sea and a book is all that survives of them. More than sixty years later Donny and his mother set out for Suffolk to meet his mysterious great aunt.
There is an accident and Donny is taken into care. But are the officials all that they seem and why won't they believe Donny's story? Soon he discovers that his life has been built on a lie. Only the new friendships he makes and an unsuspected talent for sailing help him steer his way through dangers that he cannot understand towards a knowledge of his own identity - and the secrets of a salt-stained book."

It made for good reading, but the group had several criticisms. They felt there were too many sailing terms used, and that you probably needed to have experience of sailing to be able to fully enjoy the story. The group thought that a glossary would have been helpful.
There were some interesting characters in the book, namely Donny's new friends "Awful" Anna, and sisters Xanthe and Maggi, but the "baddies" were not so convincing.

Overall, a good but not a great read.

Here are some comments from the group:

"If you like sailing and Swallows and Amazons you'll probably like this book." - Ana

"There are lots of good, strong, girl characters." - Tabitha

"A good book for budding sailors." - Lottie

Page Turners rating: it's another 3.5/5

Ana's treasure map