A story with important lessons
Shipwrecked follows the story of Grace Delaney and her fellow dance students who are on their way to perform on a South Pacific cruise ship when a freak storm hits and they find themselves stranded on a deserted island.
With the tropical heat rising, passions and tensions swell to breaking point and the island itself is quietly steaming with a terrible secret.
Shipwrecked is the first novel in the exciting new series by Siobhan Curham. The book is aimed at the older teenager generation and deals with important themes like bullying, illness, social class, divorce, betrayal and dealing with divorces of parents.
The book is described by critics as ‘Gossip Girl meets Lost’ and even though the stranded-on-an-island theme has been done many times, there is something different about this one, with it’s more modern plot and twist on the supernatural.
Instead of the usual ghostly drab, the book uses the creepy theme of on old, mythical story of voodoo and witchcraft.
The events are told by the main character, Grace, but I had trouble adjusting to the first person narrative, as, personally, I don’t like this method of story telling.
The beginning of the book reads like a teenage diary but quickly introduces the themes that many young adults can relate to.
The author’s writing skill of creating dialogue that flows is one to be commended. All the dialogue is written well and seems realistic even when the events that are taking place seem far from it.
She also has an amazing way of making her characters multi-dimensional, relatable and sympathetic.
This is a great read for young adults as well as the older generation who enjoy this kind of plot, although they may find a lot of it too immature.
