Annie is a strange girl, wired wrong and unable to learn anything as a child at school.Her brain is an electric storm.
Letters that seemed stuck to the page refuse to lift and enter her mind. Numbers have the same effect.
All of us are mysteries her doctor said when he couldn’t diagnose her.
It is the sea only, that understands her and she understands.
Annie and her mother live close to the water and never want to be anywhere else. It flows in and through her; is her breath and soul.
When Annie has her falls, in the time in between absence and waking, she finds herself in the sea; her hair seaweed, her body sleek like a seal.
She is never afraid, nor is Mam. After each fall she feels reborn; new again.
Annie has been raised on stories; tales of every kind connected to the sea and Stupor Beach.
Her life is built around them.
But who was her father? Was the story she’d been told true, or was there another that remained to be shared?
David Almond’s poetic text gives value to the illustrations. It’s frequently the other way around where the art work enhances the text.
Beatrice Alemagna’s delicate, fine lined illustrations are in perfect sync with Almond’s treasured phrases.
Almond has created a spectacular story about love and belonging. Woven into these tales, that could be truth or fantasy, is how the essence of a human being can’t always be captured or expressed in logical terms.
Another David Almond book for his fans and others, not to be missed.
Title: Annie Lumsden, The Girl from the Sea
Author: David Almond
Illustrator: Beatrice Alemagna
Publisher: Walker Books, $18.99
Publication Date: 1 August 2020
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781406377590
For ages: 10+
Type: Teenage Fiction
