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Revision as of 17:00, 23 November 2014
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{{infobox
|title=Strong Winds Trilogy: The Salt-Stained Book
|author=Julia Jones and Claudia Myatt
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=272
|publisher=Golden Duck
|website=
|video=
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1899262040B00M3AE8TO</amazonuk>|amazonus=<amazonus>1899262040B00M4LXSO8</amazonus>
}}
Donny and his mother left their bungalow on the outskirts of Leeds and headed off to Suffolk to meet Donny's great aunt. It was never going to be easy as Skye, Donny's mother, was deaf and just about mute. She and Donny communicated by signing and usually they managed quite well, but when Skye had a breakdown in a car park in Colchester, their camper van was towed away and fourteen-year-old Donny was taken into care. He couldn't understand why none of the officials would believe him – in fact, were they all that they seemed? And why will no one let him see his mother?
I picked up ''The Salt-Stained Book'' an hour before the men's singles final at Wimbledon was due to begin. Time enough, I thought, to get an idea of what the story was about and then I could come back to it later. But despite warnings that the match was 'about to start',' first set over' etc I stayed with the book. I'm many times the target age, but it fulfils the test of a good book: whatever age you are it's ''still'' a good book. I was hooked before I was more than a few pages in.
You'll love Donny. He comes off the page and delights. Despite the fact that he'd never been near water he finds that he's an instinctive sailor the first time that he (accidentally!) gets in a dinghy. Much of the book is based on the Shotley Peninsula between the Rivers Orwell and Stour. You'll walk it, you'll sail it, you'll ''know'' it. Donny's put into care and he goes to live with the local vicar and her husband. They're glorious creations: you don't quite know whether to snigger or groan at them – they're ''just'' this side of caricature and wonderful to read.
For another rebooting of a well-respected story we can recommend [[Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy by Andy Briggs]].
'''September 2014''' I can't believe that it's more than three years since I read The Salt-Stained Book as it's one of those stories that lingers in your mind, but I didn't hesitate when I was offered the chance to listen to an audio version narrated by Anna Bentinck. I was stunned. The story is as good as ever (have you ever reread a book and been just a little bit disappointed?) and even though I knew exactly what would happen I was still completely swept up in the story. Part of this is obviously Julia Jones' plot, but the narration is superb. If asked before I listened to the book I would have said that a 'good reader' could narrate a story, but Bentinck moves reading into a different profession. She's - for want of a better term - a voice artist, capturing each individual character perfectly and bringing them to life. I listened as though to a play with a narrator. The story is just short of eight hours long, but I listened to the first six without a break and only stopped then because my husband pointed out that supper was long overdue and the excuse that I wanted to know what happened next didn't really hold water. If I was taking children on an 'are we nearly there?' journey I'd have this playing in the car. Everyone will enjoy it and the trip will go by in a flash. You might even get away with playing it again on the way home. {{amazontext|amazon=1899262040}} {{waterstonestextamazonUStext|waterstonesamazon=8456373B00M4LXSO8}}
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[[Category:Julia Jones]]
[[Category:Claudia Myatt]]
