The Sea-Wreck Stranger

Sea-wreck stranger #1

by Anna Mackenzie

NESS, Ty and their cousin Sophie live in a small island community: a community that has turned its back on the sea, and on its own past.

When the arrival of a stranger forces all three to question the world they know a world dominated by superstition, fear and loss they each have a choice to make. Rebelling against the harsh austerity of her life, Ness chooses to follow the sea currents running in her blood. It proves a choice that risks everything including her own life.

With its strong cast of characters, Anna Mackenzies perceptive, enigmatic novel will have you firmly in its grip.

Finalist in the 2008 LIANZA Children's Book Awards - Esther Glen Award (Fiction)
Sir Julius Vogel Awards 2008 Joint Winner, Young Adult Novel Category
NZ Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2008 Honour Award, Young Adult Fiction Category

Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult, Fantasy, Teen

204 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2007

About the author

Anna Mackenzie wrote her first book aged 6, but spent a while roaming through other jobs before returning to writing fiction. Now that she has, she can't imagine doing anything else!
Her nine titles have won her seven CLF Notable Book Awards, an NZ Post Honour Award, Sir Julius Vogel Award, White Raven, and more. Her latest title, Evie's War, tells the story of a young New Zealander who works in the medical services in the UK, Belgium and France during WWI.
Anna writes contemporary, historic and speculative fiction for adults and young adults. She lives on a farm in New Zealand.
You can read more about Anna at http://www.annamackenzieauthor.com/

Reviews

[Zelda FeatzReviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you follow the blog, you will know that I usually pass the young adult books onto Alicia to review. This one is different only because I met the author. Yes, I could not believe it either – being in South Africa – I never meet authors face-to-face.
However, I met Anna Mackenzie in a completely unrelated setting – with no knowledge that she is an author and she had no clue about my blog. When she left South Africa she left me a signed copy of The Sea-Wreck Stranger – which I might add is my first and only signed copy. I will cherish this book forever.
When you reach for this book, you will find yourself on a small island where you are introduced to a community of people lead by a local council who have convinced everyone that the sea and everything about it is dangerous. These people live a simple life that centres around farming for survival.
This is the first Anna Mackenzie book I have read and, sadly, she has not written for a while. This is a moving story that leaves you falling in love with Ness. I loved the scenery in the book and enjoyed the details that the author included about farming. While this story is dystopian fiction, the author does not spend page after page telling you about a futuristic world. The setting might be in the future, but it’s very close to present-day reality.
Ness and Ty lost both their parent and have been taken in by their uncle and now live at Leewood. The local community has turned their back on the ocean which once sustained them. When people started dying after eating fish – the local council banned everything related to the sea.
When Ness, Ty and their cousin Sophie find a man washed ashore, barely alive – Ness convinces them that they cannot leave him to die. Risking everything to save the stranger’s life Ness finds herself questioning the life she lives.
I found myself lost in Ness’s world. This young girl leads a difficult life, yet she never gives up. No matter what, she stays true to her beliefs – even when she is uncertain, she trusts her instincts.
Ness is a remarkable character – the author did a brilliant job creating this young girl. She is determined, hard-working and caring. She trusts her instincts and relies on the memories of her father to guide her. Your heart breaks for her as you endure her daily struggles with her.
While I generally stay away from young adult fiction, this was a book I found myself really enjoying. It’s a moving story with brilliant characters and just a touch of a warning about the damage we are causing to the world around us. The author brings a young girl to life who is hard-working and strong-willed – she risks everything for what she believes in and does not blindly follow rules.
I passed this one on to Alicia and I look forward to hearing what she thinks of this one. If you are looking for a dystopian fiction that does not spend forever on world-building and instead delivers a moving, realistic story with characters that will steal your heart – then you will not go wrong by reaching for this book.
https://featzreviews.com/the-sea-wrec...

[Bree T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our protagonist is Ness, a teenage girl who having lost her parents, was taken in along with her brother Ty by her mother’s brother. Ness and Ty live on a farm with him, his daughter their cousin Sophie from his first marriage, and his disagreeable and strict second wife. Ness and Ty are little more than free labour to their aunt and she always makes sure they have plenty to do and they’re beaten and punished for any disobedience, real or imagined.

The farm is on a small island, in a dysoptian-lite sort of society. Some time ago the inhabitants of the small island had to stop fishing due to a wide contamination in the produce that caused a lot of deaths. Now anything from the sea is immediately viewed as untrustworthy and given that the powers that be on their little island preach that they are all that is left of civilisation, Ness knows that when she finds a stranger washed up on the beach near the farm that she must keep him secret at all costs. For a stranger to arrive proves that the council are wrong and they are no longer all that is left – they will hang him for lies and Ness and anyone else caught habouring him could face the same fate. Ness, whose father had a strong affinity with the sea, cannot leave him to die – he is gravely hurt and she forces Ty and Sophie to assist her in taking him to a cave in the cliffs where they do their best to care for him.

Ness has always sought solace in the waves away from the atmosphere of the farm and to mourn her parents. She slips down there at every opportunity she has away from her sharp-tongued Aunt Tilda so it’s no hardship for her to see to the care of the stranger. He takes some time to regain consciousness but when he does, he tells her that he is from a ship studying the sea contamination patterns and that they suspect the time of contamination is almost over and produce from the sea will be safe once again.

Ness knows that she should take this news to the community, but that the little ruler of this part of the island owns several butchers and farms and makes a hefty profit from their reliance on meat and crops. This is also the same person that would hang Devdan, the stranger, should he come to know of his existance, which is getting harder and harder to keep a secret. Ness knows time is running out and she has to decide where her future lies.

At only 198 pages, The Sea-Wreck Stranger is a quick but engrossing read. We’re not given a lot of background into what occurred to perpetuate the claim that their island is all that is left, nor what caused widespread contamination of the sea and also where Devdan is from. Because we see the world through Ness’ eyes, we know only what she knows and given her relatively unimportant status, that doesn’t seem to be much. Her and Ty are orphans, relying on the goodwill and kindness of relatives and although her uncle does appear to have a soft spot for the children, his wife, the headache-plagued shrill Tilda delights in working them to the bone, bossing them around and generally making their lives unpleasant. Ness is also a little ‘different’ from the other citizens – she still loves the sea, she’s prone to dreaming and exploring by herself and she’s a thinker.

Although I usually like to know what has shaped a dystopian society, even though that information was not forthcoming in this novel, I didn’t mind so much. Perhaps because it was quite short and there was always a lot happening with Ness, her brother and cousin first finding Devdan, then hiding him and attempting to care for him and then trying to keep other people from making the discovery, I didn’t notice the lack of background so much. I was immersed in the characters and in the story that was being told rather than wondering about why things had happened. Also given that there is a sequel, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that we’ll discover more information as Ness herself does.

I’m glad I already have the sequel here with me because after the end of The Sea-Wreck Stranger I’m really interested to find out what lies ahead for Ness and Devdan. If you like your dystopian all The Hunger Games with violence and lots of fear then this one might not be for you. But if you like a nice subtle world creation and strong characters and a really good plot, I’d recommend this one.

[Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Our sea-wreck stranger doesn’t stand much of a chance, not on Dunnett Island…’
NESS, Ty and their cousin Sophie live in a small island community: a community that has turned its back on the sea, and on its own past.
When the arrival of a stranger forces all three to question the world they know — a world dominated by superstition, fear and loss — they each have a choice to make. Rebelling against the harsh austerity of her life, Ness chooses to follow the sea currents running in her blood. It proves a choice that risks everything — including her own life.
For me, ‘The Sea-Wreck Stranger’ is an almost prophetic story of what could happen to humanity if we continue to live in denial of our need to become more sustainable. The rulers, or council, of Ness’s island refuse to involve themselves with anything from the past, and are unwilling to let anything new into their controlled atmosphere. I found the character of Ness very interesting because she was believable, and also because she was an embodiment of the mental changes that come with adulthood.
I think this book illustrates how close-minded and exclusive we humans can become once we have our minds set on a certain way of life. When Ness finds a man washed up from a sea-wreck, her decision to save him symbolises not only a war waged against conformity, but also her bringing in something from the outside in an attempt to breach the high walls her society has cast around itself. Fear of change is their society’s downfall, and this is a warning to us should we ever become that set in stone. I think what Mackenzie is saying here is that adaptation is the key to our survival, and without it we are a doomed race.
In the end, Ness is forced to leave her island with the stranger, because her island is stubborn in it’s goal to remain cut-off from anything the council disapproves. Although this might have meant prevention of disease and war, in the end it led to them being trapped without the evolution of their society, or the progression of time. If Ness hadn’t intervened, I believe they might have eventually waned out completely, because they were so opposed to change. Ness makes the decision to change, and in doing so she loses everyone and everything. Even so, nothing stops her will to live freely and without the constraints of Dunnett’s council.
I liked the character of Ness because I found her very realistic and believable. She was not one of the invincible heroes we see in so many books these days. I could imagine myself and many of my friends acting the same way in her situation, which made the book so much more enjoyable for the reader, because the events were plausible and could actually occur one day. I also felt that the things that Ness goes through are very much what all teenagers face in those awkward, on-the-fence years of young-adulthood. She is trying to escape the reticent nature of her world, and try new limitations. Is this not what every teenager goes through? Trying to find themselves; work out who they are; who they’re real friends are; how they should model themselves; who they will become. All these questions are ones that Ness herself faced, which was another reason why she was so easy to relate to.
Ness’ world is one not so very far from our own, and one we should be wary of in all the changes that are impending what with climate change, war and, most of all, unsustainable economy. Ness is a symbol of the changes we ourselves must make, before we are too far in to turn back, and become, like Dunnett, a society so steeped in a tradition of shadows that we are afraid of the light. I would very much recommend this book for all ages, for it’s valuable messages more than anything else.

[Kash]

I can't remember what I thought of this book or what it was about, I read it so long ago

[Toni McKee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe because I have read- and enjoyed - so many other dystopian novels, I was quite unimpressed with this one. I had been recommended Anna Mackenzie’s novel by a colleague ( I asked to try a few Kiwi authors I haven’t read before) and it was just a series of disjointed descriptions of hardship and child abuse, but really lacking any context of where this island was or why things had gone so wrong. It was trying to go down the route, possibly, of M Night Sharlaman’s ‘The Village’ but I didn’t find myself really caring about any of the characters as so little was explained other than death and a dangerous sea. I guessed it was set in modern times where communities revert to ‘the old ways’ but despite painting a very bleak picture of hardships surrounding a frugal existence, it didn’t really grip me by the plot.

[Jodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little story. Looking forward to the next one in the series

[Ellen Curnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is set on a small farming island after a catastrophic change to the world. The people of the island have cast aside all forms of modern technology because they believe that the greedy and materialistic ways of our society led to the catastrophe. The story is told in first person by Ness, a teenaged orphan who finds the rules and restrictions of the island stifling. Even books are forbidden luxuries and are burned in the "cleansing day fires."

One idea which really got me thinking was how reliant we are on modern technology and how we would cope if it were suddenly taken away. I rely on technology a hundred times a day without even thinking about it - looking up a recipe to make bread, texting a friend for coffee or driving to work. Running water and electricity are not luxuries in my life - they are necessities which I take for granted. In Sea-Wreck Stranger, life has been stripped right back to a very basic way of living and people must work hard to produce whatever they need from scratch. Ness and her brother and cousin must milk a house cow, churn butter and hunt for shoots to supplement their diet. I would not know how to do many of the tasks in this situation - butchering an animal, spinning and carding wool, making flour from grain - and I couldn't just "Google" it to find out. Have we lost the skills and knowledge we would need to survive if our technology was taken away?

The story-telling in Anna Mackenzie's book is simple and yet gripping and it is easy to read and hard to put down. I found Ness's character very easy to relate to (possibly because MacKenzie is a New Zealand writer) and more realistic than Katniss in 'The Hunger Games' or Tris in 'Divergent'. The book was similar in some ways to another NZ dystopin novel - 'The Crossing' by Mandy Hager. Both are set in island communities after catastrophic disasters. Both involve a ruling class controlling people through deception and fear. And both explore a future where we have lost modern conveniences. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading young adult dystopian fiction.

[Sylvia · Rating 1 out of 5]

had to read it for school I want to die so bad it was so bad then I had to write about it like no thanks.

[Linley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first story in the series. The sequel 'Ebony Hill' has as many rave reviews as this story.

If you enjoy post-apocalyptic writing, with a strong heroine and a convincing story-line then consider this for your next read. It will appeal to readers who have enjoyed Juno of Taris. It isn't a super-Divergent-ability, nasty-them-against-us-Hunger-Games story, and I enjoyed it the more. It reminded me of a programme I saw when I was young (was TV invented then?) where technology was outlawed and considered dangerous and people went back to the old ways. Whilst I don't want to go back to a world devoid of technology, there would be a lot less industrial pollution than we manage to make now.

Highly recommended to Y7 and older.

[Mackenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sea-wreck stranger is a very enjoyable book about a girl called Ness, a boy called Ty and their cousin Sophie and the troubled they face trying to help a "sea-wreck stranger" I don't want to give anything away for the ending but I really strongly recommend it.

[William Freeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just couldn't get into this book at all and I have been reading quite a bit teen fiction this year that I normally enjoy. It's one of those book you just can't quite know why you didn't like and the big revelation towards the end of the book well yeah by then who cared

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An absorbing read set in a post-apocalyptic future. Enjoyable.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

blah
New Zealand author, what more can I say?