Gone to Drift

by Diana McCaulay

From award-winning Jamaican author Diana McCaulay, Gone to Drift is a powerful voice-driven middle grade novel about family set in Jamaica.

Lloyd comes from a long line of fishermen. Growing up in Kingston, Jamaica, Lloyd feels most at home with the sea and his grandfather, Maas Conrad, at his side.

When his grandfather doesn’t return from a fishing trip, Lloyd fears he has gone to drift. The sea may be in Lloyd’s blood, but as he searches for his grandfather, he discovers a side of the ocean—and the people who use it—that he’s never known before.

Told in the alternating voices of Lloyd and Maas Conrad, Gone to Drift is a moving story of family, courage, and the wonders of the oceans we call home.

Genres: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fiction, Family, Realistic Fiction, Adventure, Action

272 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2016

Reviews

[Amanda Brenner · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can read all of my reviews on my blog ->Cover2CoverMom

I requested Gone to Drift because the cover gave me Island of the Blue Dolphins vibes.  While this was nothing like Island of the Blue Dolphins, this was a very interesting YA novel about a boy’s quest to find out what happened to his beloved Grandfather who never returns from a fishing trip.  It sounds simple, but this book was much more than I was anticipating…

In Gone to Drift we are getting two stories: the present day story of Llyod searching for answers in his grandfather’s disappearance, and the life story of Lloyd’s Grandfather, Maas Conrad.  The format of this book was very interesting.  Normally, I don’t really like when an author switches narratives within a book, but it worked well here.  Gone to Drift is told in 3rd person for Lloyd’s perspective, and 1st person for Conrad’s perspective.  Furthermore, Conrad’s perspective jumps back and forth from past to present.  I know it sounds like a lot going on, but somehow McCaulay pulls it off.

One of my favorite aspects about this book is the setting.  I really enjoyed that this book was set in a fishing village in Jamaica, where fishing is the backbone of the town.  Growing up in Southwest Ohio, I do not know much about the fishing industry, nor what it is like to live in a place that relies so heavily on the fishing trade.  I love getting glimpses into communities & cultures that differ so much from my own.  For this reason, I especially enjoyed Conrad’s perspective because we got a glimpse at how fishing in Jamaica has drastically changed over the course of his life.  I also was pleasantly surprised at some of the environmental themes Gone to Drift goes into.  We really get to see the moral dilemmas that these fisherman go through: Do we fish close to harbor where we know the fish are exposed to pollution?  or do we risk our lives going to dangerous locations where we know the fishing is better?  Do we use questionable methods that may do harm to other marine life and the ocean itself if this means our family will have food to eat?  I know a normal person would think these answers would be cut & dry, but McCaulay really shows us both sides of the story here.  This book also goes into dolphin trade/black market, where locals will capture & sell dolphins to be used in the tourist industry (i.e. swimming with the dolphins).  This book really gave me a lot to think about on issues I’d never given much thought to.

Based off the cover, I was anticipating a middle grade read, but it is definitely NOT a middle grade novel and is actually classified as YA.  Actually, I almost think this book would appeal more to adult readers vs. YA readers based on some of the content & themes.  This isn’t to say a YA reader would not enjoy this book, just that it might do better in the adult genre.  I am actually wondering if this is one of the reasons why this book has ZERO hype, that it was marketed as YA.  I am just not sure this one will appeal to the majority of YA readers, which is unfortunate.

My only criticism of Gone to Drift would be that I wish the author wouldn’t have left a few things unresolved at the end.  A simple epilogue at the end that jumped ahead a few years would have helped me feel a little more closure.

If you are looking for a “different” type of YA book, I would recommend this one to you.  I’d also recommend for those who enjoy learning about different countries & lifestyles, books exploring moral dilemmas, mystery, and adventure.  I think this book has a lot of good things going for it.  Everything feels very authentic in this novel, which is no surprise since the author is an environmental activist and lifelong resident of Jamaica.  

*Big thanks to Impress Books  for providing me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no idea what to expect as I opened this book. It was lent to me by a friend I met through my local camera club. He is older than me, I think in his 70s, and he supplements his pension by peer-reviewing technical documents about something I don’t understand. He is a clever man. I didn’t read the blurb on the back of the book but just opened it and began to read.

It was something of a surprise to find myself realising about 3 pages in that I was reading a YA novel. Not that’s there’s anything wrong with YA novels - it’s just not what I expected my friend to be reading and lending to people.

I know my friend’s motivation in lending me this book was the environmental aspect because he knows I care about the natural world and spend my own retirement trying to take photographs of it with the intention of helping people see its beauty and come to care about it for themselves. The author of this book is also an environmental activist and a lifelong resident of Kingston, Jamaica. On her website we read:

An outspoken environmental activist, Diana founded the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) in 1991 and retired as CEO at December 2017. In that position, she has interacted with all levels of Jamaican society from the Prime Minister and cabinet officials to rural Jamaicans displaced by development and fishers denied access to beaches. Diana’s writing contains an authenticity and vibrancy derived from her active participation at so many levels of Jamaican society. 

McCaulay’s novels prior to this one (Dog-Heart and Huracan) and her novel published after this one (Daylight Come, which my friend also lent me) are published in the UK by Peepal Tree Press, a small publisher I have previously encountered, most recently with their book Fortune by Amanda Smyth. This book is published by Papillote Press, a small, independent publishing house specialising in books about Dominica and the wider Caribbean.

Gone To Drift is the story of Lloyd’s search for his grandfather who sets out in a boat one day but does not come back. Lloyd refuses to believe that the worst has happened and decides to find his grandfather with unexpected help from a scientist working on the island.

The book has a dual narrative with Lloyd’s story interleaved with his grandfather’s thoughts and this makes for a reasonably complex book to follow because the grandfather’s story is both current and full of memories that gradually explain how he came to be where he is. But the chapters are all short so there is never a long gap between instalments of each story thread which makes it simpler to keep track of everything.

As the story progresses, and especially in the final third of the book, the environmental concerns start to come to the fore. The poverty in which many of the island’s inhabitants live, the desperate measures they are forced to take in order to survive, the damage being done to the environment and especially to the dolphins pictured on the front cover of the edition I read - all these blend into the story.

As I say, I would not normally think about reading a YA book, but this one is a well-told story that communicates a message.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

This was an extremely touching story about the bond between a young boy, Lloyd, and his grandfather. When Lloyd's grandfather goes missing at sea, Lloyd devotes all his time to trying to find him and figure out the circumstances behind his disappearance.

Diana McCaulay's love for Jamaica and its culture radiated through each page of this novel and it was truly a joy to read. However, I did deduct .5 a star because I feel like the ending was extremely rushed in the last three chapters. I was left wanting more and it felt like there were a lot of conflicting emotions and actions from Lloyd that weren't fully developed in the end that I felt really should have been in order to do the story justice. There was so much build up to this ending but it ultimately just fell flat, unfortunately. I also felt like this story really could have used a epilogue or something with one final revelation from Conrad's perspective. Especially since one of the best aspects of this book, in my opinion, was the unique format of the dual perspectives of it alternating between Lloyd and Conrad's POV's.

All in all, this was still a fantastic book and I have been left inspired to devote a weekend to trying a bully beef sandwich. The internet seems a bit divided into different camps on how best to enjoy this type of sandwich but I'm thinking the way Lloyd described the one Jules made for him with pickapeppa sauce and scotch bonnet peppers sounds delicious. I can't wait to give it a try.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful middle grade book that is about "gone to drift" aka missing at sea. Lloyd's grandfather is missing from a fishing trip. Lloyd fears his grandfather is "gone to drift", a saying in Jamaica. Lloyd is not about to give up and tries to get assistance from people in the community to help him find his grandfather. There are many things going on in the fishing community and waters of Jamaica, many more than young Lloyd new about, or wants to know about. Told in alternating voices of Lloyd and his grandfather. Delightful.

[Gatlin Luke · Rating 2 out of 5]

A young boy and his father were best friends until one day disaster had struck upon them. The book I have read is Gone To Drift by Diana McCaulay. The genre of this book is adventure and fiction.
A boy named Lloyd loved to fish. He really loved to fish with his dad, it was their thing that loved to do together. Ever since Lloyd was a little boy he wanted to fish all the time because it was just in his blood to fish. Lloyd and his father would go out on their boat to fish together. On one specific day, Lloyd could not go out fishing with his father on the boat. The father was supposed to return home later that night but didn't make it home. So Lloyd got very worried and so the next day he still hasn't arrived home yet. Lloyd decides to try to find people to help him go out in the sea and find him but everyone declined his offer. Until one lady towards the top of the town on a mountain said that she would go and look for him with him. Also, Lloyds best friend that is a guy named Dwight said he would also come on the journey as well. The lady wanted to come with because she wanted to go and see some dolphins because she studies them and she thought this would be her chance to adventure and study the dolphins face to face. They had to fight through a bunch of storms and other problems through the long adventure. Do they find Lloyds father or do they also get lost at sea?
I give this book a 2 out of 5 for the rating. I give it this because it was a very non-interesting book and I kept losing interest. Some people may find this book interesting but I had not. It just didn't have any good or funny parts in the book.

[Nkeisha Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lloyd, if ever I am lost I would want you to look for me. Lloyd’s determination, grit, bravery in this story was fueled by the love for his grandfather who was lost at sea (“gone to drift”). The author skillfully developed this plot via two different voices: Lloyd’s whose plot was told in 3rd person as he ventured to find his granddad (this method she was able to develop a great story which sometimes mask the age of the Lloyd who was only twelve as he made some mature decisions) and his grandfather’s plot was told in 1st person and this aided the plot development of Maas Conrad (Lloyd’s grandfather) life from childhood to an adult as a fisherman. Though this story was for young adults I truly enjoyed it and a great attempt of using fiction to also bring awareness of the overfishing, and how it could affect our environment and the challenges or rather thin line of securing one’s livelihood and ensuring marine life continue to exist. I love this book and look forward to more of this author’s work.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setting of Jamaica makes for an interesting backdrop to the story of a boy, his love for his grandpa, and what happens when his grandpa gets lost at sea. The chapters alternate between Lloyd and his grandfather (as he remembers his life while lost). It is a slower story with bits of action, and it has a lot of information about how fishing has changed along with the hard lives that some people lead. The dialect took me a little to get into but once I did it flowed. There is some mention of drugs, drinking and some mild violence. 6th grade and up.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a debut t his is beautifully written. I spent time in Jamaica and this book made me want to go back as soon as possible.

I love adventure books and let's be honest our hero went on one heck of an adventure to find his grandfather. I can't believe this is a debut. I loved this story and can't wait to read more by the author.

[Richie Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richie’s Picks: GONE TO DRIFT by Diana McCaulay, HarperCollins, April 2018 [Originally published in 2016 by Papillote Press], 272p., 0-06-267296-7

“I remember when we used to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown
Oba, observing the hypocrites
As they would mingle with the good people we meet
Good friends we have had
Oh, good friends we’ve lost along the way
In this bright future you can’t forget your past
So dry your tears I say”
-- Bob Marley, “No Woman No Cry” 1974

“The most daunting thing about the trip to the Pedro Cays was the possibility of missing them entirely in the dark, the five hours becoming six and then seven and then eight. Then, as the dawn turned the black sea gray and then navy blue, there would be no sign of the turquoise water of the Pedro Bank rising from the seafloor, no sign of three small cays in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. There would be the awful knowledge that the next stop was the coast of South America, that gas would soon run out and the boat would be at the mercy of the sea, spinning and wallowing like a coconut, taken south and west.
A man who missed the Cays would eat the raw and rotting fish in his bait bucket until it was done, he would vomit until all he had left was dry heaves and cramps, he would take tiny sips of the warm water in his plastic bottle, and he would pray for rain, for clouds, for anything to dim the sun, and he would stare at the water level in the bottle going down and down. It happened once or twice a year--Jamaican fishers would be found by foreign boats, starving and dehydrated, sometimes driven mad by exposure and hopelessness, by the sight of the endless sea and by the possibility of food fish under the hull of the boat, but too deep, too speedy to be caught.”

Lloyd Saunders’ paternal grandfather Maas Conrad is the closest person in the world to him, the twelve year-old’s sanctuary from his hard and hard-drinking, part-time father. Lloyd was barely toddling when he first went to sea with his grandfather, an ecologically-enlightened line fisher from a long line of Jamaican fishermen.

Maas Conrad left for the Cays, sixty miles southwest of Kingston, on Sunday night. On Tuesday, he called from Pedro to say he’d be heading back early Thursday. But he never arrived back in Kingston, and his cellphone is either dead or gone. What has befallen Lloyd’s grandfather?

GONE TO DRIFT alternates between Lloyd, who is desperately seeking to find out what happened to his beloved grandfather, and Maas Conrad who is trying to survive on a rock in the middle of the sea. There he reminisces about a distant time when his brother Luke went missing during a trip to the Pedro Bank, and gradually reveals how he’s come to be stuck on the rock.

He’d long ago sworn to never return to the Cays. Why has he gone there now?
Page after page, action is interwoven with exceptionally rich description. Readers can taste the salt, feel the itch of dried scales on their forearms, hear the laughing dolphins, mourn for the now-polluted and depleted sea, and empathize with the swelling population of impoverished people. The language is lucious, with Lloyd’s parts of the story being told in the rich Jamaican dialect.

Part gripping mystery, part survival tale, and part stellar coming-of-age story, GONE TO DRIFT immerses readers in the culture, history, and troubles of present-day Jamaica.

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gone to Drift is the story of one boy’s unrelenting quest to find his grandfather, Maas Conrad, who has gone to drift in the waters off Jamaica. Lloyd has an unwavering faith in Maas Conrad’s strength of body and will and goes to tremendous lengths to locate his missing grandparent despite the insistence of adults that he give up the search. The story is beautifully told. Lloyd’s voice is strong and his character is very real in his single-mindedness, in his bravery, and in his clear-headed assessment of adult characters.

The simplicity of the language and descriptions encapsulate the uncomplicated point-of-view with which Lloyd views his own life before the details of his grandfather’s disappearance come to light. The imagery of the sea pervades the piece and gives the reader a greater understanding of the stakes involved in the tale being told.

Gone to Drift also speaks to the issues faced in the fishing industry in the Caribbean. The complex dichotomy between the need to survive from a life at fishing and the reality that over-fishing will destroy that livelihood is an overarching theme of the book. It was a relief to see that the characters on the side of protecting our shores from over-fishing etc. were not foreign saviours but Caribbean nationals.

Lloyd’s narrative is interlaced with his grandfather’s. In Maas Conrad’s sections the reader learns about his suffering on a uninhabited rock; we are told his life story as exposure and lack of water cause his mind to wander; and finally we are given a very direct exposition of how he came to be stranded. I was not a fan of Maas Conrad’s reminiscing about his childhood or of the way the truth of his disappearance was revealed. This felt a bit rushed. The novel does a wonderful job of getting readers invested in Lloyd and his grandfather’s plight and they may be left yearning for a clearer picture of what comes next.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this story and rooted for Lloyd and Maas Conrad from beginning to end.

This is an excerpt of my full review at http://carolmitchellbooks.com/2018/05...

[Jenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life gets even tougher for Lloyd, a boy from a Jamaican fishing village, when his grandfather goes missing at sea - ‘gone to drift’ as the local fishers say. Lloyd sets out to find him but no one will help except for an uptown girl who studies dolphins, his best friend Dwight and - just perhaps - a mad man called Slowly on a sun-baked beach.

Truth? Respect? Survival? Gone to Drift is a powerful adventure story in which Lloyd discovers that the enemies of his grandfather - and of the Caribbean Sea that he loves - are closer to home than he could ever imagine.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Inpress Books for copy in exchange for an honest review *

When I first saw it on Netgalley, I was drawn in by the cover and title. As a reader, the cover alone will fascinate you and make you wonder, 'What will happen?'. It was one of the things that attracted me to the story: I wanted to know if Llyod would find his grandfather. Gone To Drift was different from the stories I normally read. I loved that it was told from both the boy's and grandfather's perspectives. felt sorry for Llyod; nobody seemed to take seriously the fact that his grandfather hadn't returned from his fishing trip yet. Like Llyod, I believed his grandfather was in danger and hoped he could persuade someone to look for him.

I loved reading both perspectives. However, I found it easier to follow Conrad's perspective than Llyod's. At times, it was difficult to follow Llyod's point of view, and some of the phrasing was unusual, but it was fascinating to read. Overall, it was a beautifully written narrative, and I enjoyed the idea that it took place in Jamaica. Although I felt the finale was unresolved, I found myself flipping the pages, eager to see how all would end.

[True Nicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diana McCaulay’s Gone to Drift tells the tale of Lloyd, or Lloydie as he is affectionately called in his community, who when he realises that his grandfather, known as ‘Maas Conrad’, has been out to sea longer than usual, even for a seasoned fisherman, grows anxious and questions whether he is okay. While the community shares in his worry, no one seems to be too preoccupied with looking for the old man. Fishermen go missing sometimes, it’s part of the risk involved being out on the open water. They council Lloyd to wait. If his grandfather is alright he will return. But as Lloyd asks around he finds himself suspicious about the events surrounding his grandfather’s ‘disappearance’ and decides that he has to find him himself, sooner rather than later.

Gone to Drift is not an action packed thriller. It’s a quiet, contemplative story that tells several stories at once. A story of how greed can compromise the soul of man, making him willing to ‘make ends meet’ at any cost. A story of community knowledge, practices and skills and how they were quietly passed down through generations but are now lost to a way of life that once was. It’s a story of the forever ongoing disregard human beings have had for the environment.

But most importantly, it’s a story of family ties particularly between grandparents and their grandchildren, as Lloyd’s love for his grandfather is what motivates him to take risks to find him.

You can read the rest of my review at https://criticsmaylie.wordpress.com/2...

[Geni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gone to Drift is a story about the people whose lives are centered around the sea- those who love and care for it, and those that only care about what it brings to them. The sea is the setting, the creatures within it are a focus and it seems to soak through every page. The fishing culture of the caribbean is practically a world away from my own but, with each page-turn, I experienced it.

This book begins a a slowburner: quiet, unflashy - not groundbreaking, but special nonetheless. It is filled with a deep love for the sea and the importance of protecting it. It is about people, too, and their past and worries and desperations. It doesn’t demonize those who hurt the sea and the people that love it: just mourns them, in its own way. I particularly liked all the descriptions of the wildlife around the sea. Lloyd’s side drags a bit for the first hundred pages, but I found myself enjoying the grandfather’s POV even when it did. They balanced each other out well. The characters felt very layered and I appreciated their lack of flatness. They all felt real: real experiences, real memories, real emotions. It reminded me of the beauty of the sea and gave me a newfound love for the creatures - and people - that call it home.

No questionable content. Do I recommend it? Only to some, only if you can appreciate a slower pace and can enjoy the journey. I came in skeptical, but I found myself enjoying it.

4.5 stars.

[Jacqueline Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This started off a bit slow for me and the for a while the structure of alternating story lines was annoying. But boy, am I glad I stuck with it! I think the story found a rhythm by about a third of the way through and I found myself rooting for Lloyd and really wanting to know what really happened to his Gramps. The two stories turned out to weave together in a way that makes perfect sense the one a quest, the other a history and they merge in a way that made me nod my head. Not only is the story compelling, so are the two narrators, and so are the secondary characters; the sea and Jamaica.

I was moved to tears once and laughed out loud once. The intergenerational poverty made me talk to my own daughter about the topic. I want my son to read it, because Lloyd's courage, fortitude and loyalty are traits I'd like him appreciate and demonstrate when troubles come.

I am Jamaican so I had no trouble understanding the dialect. The author has softened the dialect significantly so even non-native speakers will be able to follow along, although maybe with not the same ease as I did. But hey, the rhythm and the colour is wonderful, don't let that deter you.

The story resolves itself in a satisfying way, but leaves room for the imagination. In the end, even though it took me a while to warm up to this I wholeheartedly give it 5 stars.

[Adele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tension. This book is full of it. Twelve-year-old Lloyd has to find out what has happened to his grandfather who left on a fishing trip and doesn’t come home as planned. His cell is not working and all Lloyd knows is that he was headed to Pedro Cay, basically a rock sticking out of the ocean off the coast of Jamaica where they live. The adults all seem ready to write his grandfather off, but Lloyd cannot just accept that he may be dead. He stows away on a Coast Guard ship to find the answer. He demands answers from an illegal dolphin dealer. Finally he convinces an old friend of his grandfather to go look for him. The whole book is written in two voices-Lloyd’s and his grandfather’s, Maas Conrad. When Lloyd rescues his grandfather, he learns that his own parents were involved in creating his grandfather’s plight. Maas Conrad survives on the rock for 12 days. He is a tough man. There is lots of Jamaican dialect, so this is for advanced readers. One learns much about life in Jamaica and dysfunctional families. The end was very dramatic. It was interesting, but I didn’t love it. It was pretty good though.

[Mercy · Rating 4 out of 5]

LLoyd's grandfather is assumed to be lost at sea (Gone to Drift), after failing to return home from a fishing trip. But Lloyd thinks he is still alive, out there, and needing to be rescued. This book is two stories-one is Lloyd's adventure to find his grandfather, the second is told from his grandfather's perspective- stuck on a rock out in the sea- surviving the elements and remembering his life and what brought him to this place. The author does a good job describing the fishing culture of Jamaica and how the old "fishers" are being squeezed out because of tourism and declining fish inventories.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my 2nd in a row Caribbean novel for young people and I’m amazed by the similarities: striking out alone to survive, the pull of grandparents who are deeply connected to the island, the corruption and financial/moral struggle of their parents’ generation, the love of the sea and its healing powers, the hard lives of the young people. I wish Lloyd’s chapters were written in 1st person instead of 3rd; I wanted to be closer to him. The corruption of the ocean and the increasing violations of the laws of the sea were strong themes in this beautiful book about a boy’s love for his grandfather.

[Carli Whinna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads Book Review

Realistic fiction grabs my attention as a reader.It makes the reader question the story, scenes, characters. Is what is happening that Grandpa gets taken by the waves? Gone to Drift is a perfect example of realistic fiction. Lloyd, his grandson, tries to find him when Grandpa doesn’t return home. Lloyd is really worried and he wonders what happened. This book is lyrical. Let me tell you that you’re going to have trouble believing what is in the story. The author makes it feel like you are in the book at that moment. It has a lot of beautiful words and sentences. This book is for people that like realistic fiction, because realistic fiction makes you feel like this will happen. When you read this book you'll never want this to happen to your family. This book is a 4 and a half rating.It is a fascinating story. It gives so many details.I would recommend this book to my 12 year old sister Aundrea. I like what the genre does to the reader because you have those elements that you’re not sure are possible or not. Like Lloyd would always say…”We don’t drift into good directions we discipline and prioritize ourselves there”. He would always repeat that over and over. This book is great for adults and kids that are over 11. This is a magnificent book!

By: Carli Whinna

[Camilla Roper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the author's first novel, and she's done well. The concept of a stowaway isn't a new one, but the circumstances here are, and the initiative of the boy goes far to make the story believable. It is a story of hope in spite of everything to the contrary. The boy has family problems and must help his mother earn money for their family, yet he also feels responsible for his missing grandfather. It has good twists and turns and is a good read.

[Sara Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a fantastic window into life in a fishing community in Jamaica. I loved the environmental theme woven throughout. I would recommend this book to strong readers since the dialogue takes some extra focus due to the dialect, but the dialect also makes it authentic.

[Jennifer Webb Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

An all nighter, as all Dianes’s books lead me to do!

[Jennifer Storm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I really learned a lot about the lives of poor Jamaican "fishers" through reading the book; the author, having grown up on the island, really knows her stuff! A sad story, yet satisfying.

[Shaunda Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a grate book of you love adventures,and the experience of this book is amazing!
I love this book I'm am hoping for more.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was probably a five-star read, but the ending was too abrupt and left too many questions unanswered. I loved the main character and how atmospheric the book felt.

[Romy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. Review to come

[Vanessa Salazar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gone to Drift is the story of Lloyd, a Jamaican youth who refused to accept that his grandfather, Maas Conrad, was dead when he did not return from a fishing trip after several days. Both family members and neighbours alike implored twelve year old Lloyd to cease his search and dangerous investigations. He defies them and continuously goes to great lengths to trace his grandfather’s steps. Lloyd finds some very ugly truths that he had suspected.

Eventually, with the help of a young female scientist, he learnt that Maas Conrad was last seen at Pedro Cays, a group of islands that was not his usual fishing location and that his disappearance might be connected to his disapproval of an ongoing Dolphin trade.

Parallel to this story, the writer narrates a first-person account of Lloyd’s adult life and subsequent tribulations.

This book was a memorable read. It was able to highlight an important current environmental crisis without detracting from the main storyline which was Lloyd’s determination to find his grandfather. Social issues regarding survival and the compromise that one sometimes has to make to keep afloat was also addressed.

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a young boy and his quest to find his grandfather lost at sea. Simple enough and yet it cut so deeply. I'm not sure if it was because I related so much to the place and people, them being my people, but I felt like I was right there alongside Llyodie as he traveled around the island on his journey to rescue his grandfather.

This truly was a touching story, it gives insight into the lives of people living in fishing villages and the struggle they have to go through. It also sheds light on the terrible fact that our seas are now terribly over-fished and not only can people no longer earn a decent living from the seas, but the inhabitants of the sea themselves have a hard time living there because of what we as humans have done to it.

I liked the relationship with the grandfather and the sea, especially his connection with the dolphins. It truly was a lifelong relationship and one that was so woven into his fate.

This was an excellent read and one I would recommend to anyone that has a love for the sea and the creatures that inhabit them.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

We picked this one up on a "library run," and my 16-year-old daughter, who happened to be reading Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea for high school English, pointed out many parallels.

She loved this story about how dolphin rustlers almost kill the MC's grandfather. The old man must survive the open sea on a tiny little rock until his stubborn, persistent, nature-loving grandson defies his parents and comes to save him.

Powerful stuff, wrapped in an eulogy of how rich, diverse and powerful the sea used to be in the Caribbean.

Thank you, Diana McCaulay. My daughter wishes there was something we all could do to restore it to its glory of 100 years ago.

Visit my blog for more book reviews, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/

[Polly Krize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful writing shows Ms. McCaulay's love for her home of Jamaica. When his grandfather goes missing with his fishing boat, Lloyd is convinced he could not be lost at sea. Using his friendships and acquaintances he is driven to locate his grandfather and learns a lot about himself in the doing. Recommended.

[Lisa Francine · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC on Kindle from NetGalley