Faraway Girl

Fleur Beale

Formats & editions

Paperback

Buy from…

Mighty Ape

Find local retailers

A contemporary young-adult novel with mysterious goings-on, time travel, a curse and a strange painting.

Etta is worried about her brother, Jamie. The doctors can find nothing wrong with him, but he is getting weaker by the day. At breakfast one morning, he seems to have lost it completely:

In a voice as pale as his face, he said, ‘I think I can see a ghost.’

However, when they all turn to look, sure enough, materialising on the window seat is a girl about Etta’s age, wearing a beautiful Victorian wedding dress. Etta has to get off to school, she has no time for this, but she is about to discover that time has a whole new significance. She and her ghost companion have no choice but to work out what is going on before Jamie is lost for ever . . .

Published: 3 May 2022
ISBN: 9780143775904
Imprint: Puffin
Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
RRP: $24.00

Categories:

Fiction & true stories

Share…

About the author

Fleur Beale

Fleur Beale is the author of many award-winning books for children and young adults — she has published more than 40 books in New Zealand, as well as in the United States and England. A former high school teacher, Fleur was inspired to write her acclaimed novel I Am Not Esther when one of her students was beaten and expelled from his family for going against their religious beliefs. Fleur is a leading advocate for New Zealand authors, and home-grown literature for children and young adults.

Also by Fleur Beale

See all

Praise for Faraway Girl

Faraway girl is a swirl of contrasts, written in a limited third person omniscient point of view. This allows the reader into the heads of both Etta and Constance (in the same chapter) as they face a time and place that is foreign to each of them. Constance’s awe or fear is clear, at the same time Etta’s amazement or anger rises up. Experiencing life in 1869 for a girl the same age, Etta sees for herself the severe restrictions Constance must live under. Constance in turn sees how a 17 yr old girl in 2019 lives, speaks and behaves – strong-minded, clever and accomplished. Both give the other courage and respect, binding them in their fate. Underneath this ingenious time-travel tale is the constant malice of a twisted curse that has all but taken the life of a young boy generations into the future. Fleur Beale has given readers yet another gripping read. The threads of malice, mystery, historical and present day are well written, weaving into a plot-driven, page turning novel for young adults.
Whatbooknext