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Alone on a Wide Wide Sea [Hardcover]

Michael Morpurgo
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)

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Book Description

4 Sep 2006

How far would you go to find yourself? The lyrical, life-affirming new novel from the bestselling author of Private Peaceful

There were dozens of us on the ship, all ages, boys and girls, and we were all up on deck for the leaving of Liverpool, gulls wheeling and crying over our heads, calling good-bye, I thought they were waving good-bye. None of us spoke. It was a grey day with drizzle in the air, the great sad cranes bowing to the ship from the docks as we steamed past. That is all I remember of England…

When orphaned Arthur Hobhouse is shipped to Australia after WW II he loses his sister, his country and everything he knows. The coming years will test him to his limits, as he endures mistreatment, neglect and forced labour in the Australian outback. But Arthur is also saved, again and again, by his love of the sea. And when he meets a nurse whose father owns a boat-building business, all the pieces of his broken life come together.

Now, at the end of his life, Arthur has built a special boat for his daughter Allie, whose love of the sea is as strong and as vital as her father's. Now Allie has a boat that will take her to England solo, across the world's roughest seas, in search of her father's long-lost sister… Will the threads of Arthur's life finally come together?


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Product details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks; 1st edition (4 Sep 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0007230567
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007230563
  • Product Dimensions: 22 x 14 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 569,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

"Lyrical and moving, it is one of the former Children's Laureate's best books for years." Amanda Craig, The Times

"His best book in years… I was completely hooked." Kate Kellaway, The Observer Review

"A powerful story." The Guardian Children's Books Supplement

‘Executed with Morpurgo’s distinctive flair. His language remains beautifully clean and clear.’ Waterstone’s Books Quarterly

"[A] very satisfying read… The masterful writing makes the characters come to life on the page… I'm recommending this to adult friends as well as teenagers." Books for Keeps

"Michael Morpurgo strikes gold… this is a life-rewarding novel." Angels & Urchins

"This is storytelling at its best." Primary Times

"Incredibly moving, harrowing and completely unputdownable. A first class story that brings history alive." My Child magazine

"Completely unputdownable." Families Magazine

From the Back Cover

'There were dozens of us on the ship, boys and girls. We were off to Australia. But it might as well have been the moon.'

Orphaned in WWII, Arthur is separated from his sister and sent to the other side of the world. There his extraordinary journey continues as he and his friend Marty survive brutal captivity on a working farm, find a new family with the eccentric Aunty Meg and her animals, and discover their talent for designing yachts.

Sixty years later, Arthur's daughter Allie sets sail single-handed in a yacht designed by her father, determined to find his long-lost sister in England. Can family love stretch across time and the vastness of the oceans? And will the threads of Arthur's life finally come together?


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Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By ELH Browning TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Well written in two parts, the first two-thirds of this book is the story of Arthur, a young orphan shipped to Australia in 1947 without family or understanding. He has to leave behind everything he has ever known behind except for a "lucky key" he was given by his sister Kitty until the time they would be reunited, and the song London Bridge is Falling Down in his heart. Although his first sea voyage is miserable and his first years in the outback desperately hard, he grows to love the sea, the Ancient Mariner is his bible, and he becomes a master boat-builder. Life then takes a dive into deep dark water where he flounders for some years before finding `dry land' once again.
The second section of the book has a far more contemporary style: it is largely a diary of one-way conversational e-mails sent back home from the boat on which Allie, Arthur's daughter, returns to England. This is a single handed sailing from Australia to England in her late teens, a sort-of Ellen MacAthur-esque narrative for junior readers -that doesn't pull its punches. It's a long and arduous journey: a grim, cold and wet trip retracing her father's steps, and the highs and lows of Allie's mood on that long solitary journey mirror the towering dangerous waves. It's a triumphant ending though as the story comes full circle and the meaning of the `lucky key' ties into the underlying spirit of the book.
This vivid and realistic story, told in such different voices, interweaves the raw feeling of aloneness with the strength of family ties and raises the question of the importance of tracing who you are and where you came from, while glancing upon on a range of issues such as depression, gambling and cancer that drag you down as well as the things that lift you and give the strength and courage to go on. This raw and inescapable book will make you think and stretch your emotions - the lifes of Arthur and then Allie are as changeable in mood as the sea itself - rich fulfilling blues, dark jagged grey undercurrents & persistent stormy seas.
And if you enjoy this book (the first part in particular) the raw highs and lows of this, then you must try next the incredible Holes by Louis Sachar.
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Surpasses even Private Peaceful 4 Mar 2007
Format:Hardcover
This is stunning. Having just finished reading it I'm feeling completely wrung-out and I am now on a mission to encourage every child and adult to read it too. The story is wholly compelling and works on so many levels. It's a book that could so easily give in to sentimentality but in Michael Murpurgo's capable hands it never approaches cloying. Instead you've got brilliant storylines with characters you really care about.

This deserves to win every book award it's eligible for. I'm an experienced childrens librarian and I'd say it's comfortably up there in my top five books ever!
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A FANTASTIC Book 6 Jan 2007
By Paul
Format:Hardcover
I haven't read a book in donkey's years and I thought I should start the good habit up again. So I had a look around and bought this one, the best decision I could have made. I wanted something slightly different and this definitely offered that. As soon as I read the first paragraph I knew I was on to a winner. I know it's a cliche but I simply could not put it down I read the first hundred pages in one evening. The book is in two parts the first about Arthur Hobhouse and the second about allie. It gives a true and realistic insight in to the lives of children evacuated to Australia and the hell some had to live. I got slightly worried when I was reading about the conditions he had to live in but it soon picks up. Allie's story is extremly heart warming as she sets out to fulfil her Father's dream. A truely magnificent book and I hope this review encourages you to read it, but you can never get the true meaning from a book unless you read so here is a tip.

BUY THIS BOOK IT IS BRILLIANT.

Thank you

xxx
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Great book by a great Author. Brough for 9 year old after doing a project on Michael Morpurgo. He loved it and it has been passed around the school for other kids to read. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Amanda
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Michael Morpurgo book i have ever read....
I have read the book twice already, renting it from the school library- 2years ago, and I have just felt the need to read this heart warming, tear jerking book again, I'm 14,and I... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Rosie-Lou
5.0 out of 5 stars for my grandson
I had heard it is excellant reading.It is for my grandson no doubt he will give his views! All of Michael Morpurgo books are 100%
Published 1 month ago by lluxor
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Get the book because it is heart warming and sad and happy and also brings a tear to your eye. So go on get it
Published 1 month ago by Leo the lion
5.0 out of 5 stars A work of fiction based on a terrible period in our history.
As a child born in the time that that these dreadful acts were perpetrated by a British Government, I can only say how lucky I and the rest of my generation were not to be involved... Read more
Published 1 month ago by john appleton
5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing book
This story is amazing because it captures your attention and is really exciting.

The story is like two books in one. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Laurie Taylor, Aged 10
5.0 out of 5 stars Alone on a wide wide sea
What an emotional book - everyone should read it whether a child or adult (I am second generation child - senior!) This book reduced me to tears many times. Read more
Published 3 months ago by C. A. Osborne
5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING!
I read this book while i was at boarding school last year. I loved it! its one of those books which you cant put down. Read more
Published 3 months ago by A. McGovern
5.0 out of 5 stars Alone on a wide wide sea
It was a great book two in one constantly jumping from happy to sad .I love reading Michael`s books .
Published 4 months ago by v maskell
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read
This book made cry quite frequently a very sad and touching story well worth a read. Beautifully written and truly divine another brilliant book by Michael Morpurgo.
Published 4 months ago by Emily
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