The Drift House: The First Voyage

Drift House #1

by Dale Peck

In the tradition of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and A Wrinkle in Time comes the first book in an exciting fantasy series about three siblings' adventures on the high sea―the Sea of Time, that is.
After 9/11, Susan and her younger brothers, Charles and Murray, are sent to live with their uncle Farley in Canada. Uncle Farley's house looks like a ship perched at the edge of the sea, but it's not until a great flood comes that the house's name―Drift House―starts to make sense. Floating aimlessly on the Sea of Time, the ship-like house begins to yield its many secrets―including a mural that seems to predict the future, a dumbwaiter that enables Murray to travel into the future and back again, and a parrot historian who's also a gifted translator. But when a clan of diabolical mermaids trick the children and their uncle into helping them carry out a plan that will stop time forever, it will take all of Susan's ingenuity―along with some help from a great whale, a band of pirates, and a magic carpet―to set things straight.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Adventure, Time Travel, Middle Grade

420 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Dale Peck (born 1967 on Long Island, New York) is an American novelist, critic, and columnist. His 2009 novel, Sprout, won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Children's/Young Adult literature, and was a finalist for the Stonewall Book Award in the Children's and Young Adult Literature category.

Reviews

[Cara Ball · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audio. I'm continuously searching for that Potter-fantasy replacement. This is not it. The backseat crowed liked it more than me but just by a little. It started out really strong and enticing. Three siblings must leave New York City immediately following 9/11 in order to be safe. I was excited to find a youth book willing to use 9/11 as the backdrop. But that was as far as that story line went. They go to Canada to hang out with their Uncle Farley who lives at Drift House, a house which leaves Canada and spends time in the Sea of Time. Pirates, mermaids, do-do birds, talking parrots named after dead presidents and a crazy story ensues. It is an adventure and was entertaining. However, there was so much going on: the setting, 3 separate children sharing the status as main characters that the story line got a bit muddled.

If you like fantasy worlds with Earth Children AND you are 11 and under, you may like this book.

[JustJams · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this story, three siblings find themselves adrift on the "Sea of Time" with their Uncle and a talking parrot, in the mysterious floating Drift House.

I definitely would have liked this book better if I had liked any of the kids, or the uncle...or even the parrot. The idea was interesting, but the character development was so annoying I almost didn't finish the book.

The best part of the book was the very last chapter, which was the glossary.

The messed up thing is I will probably read the next book. I can't explain it, there is no accounting for my motive.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister recommended this delightful book to me.

Dale Peck's Drift House is a whimsical tale of Susan, Charles and Murray-three children sent from their home in New York to stay with their bumbling Uncle Farley in Quebec, Canada following 9/11. Uncle Farley is a student of time - and there is something decidedly different about his latest acquisition, Drift House - not only does it resemble a galleon, it seems to be off kilter with the surrounding garden.

Next morning, the children wake up surrounded by an ocean and even stranger things begin to happen. From talking animals and birds, sharp-teethed mermaids, fierce time pirates. philosophical whales, flying carpets and butterfrogs and a huge drain in the ocean - Peck's story is full of the fantastical and the adventurous.

Told in by an omniscient, slightly condescending narrator-this middle-grade story still drew me in due to its sheer novelty. The adventures were amusing, the mixture of Buddhist and materialist ponderings presented in a unique way - yet, despite the high-stakes danger the children find themselves in, the pace is often slow, almost lackadaisical, & the philosophising drawn out. Still, I greatly enjoyed Drift House and wonder what other adventures and mysteries the Oakenfeld children will discover.

[Pattie Babbitt · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF...I got to page 2 and did not like the explanation of the word queer in dictionary for book. Not for me.

[TerryC · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was by far an amazing book. I am into fiction books and this book was just that. My favorite part was probably when the fight scene happened between the two groups. One, being the protagonist group and the other being a group that the good guys thought were good. (Looks can be deceiving)
Anyways, overall, I definitely would recommend this book if you are into fiction and need something to give you a laugh. Please read it. It will not be a waste of your time.

[Kosta Rymer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charming coming-of-age adventure at sea that attempts to tackle theories of time in a way that is both fun & digestible for kids and teens.

TW: ableism (specifically references dwarves derogatorily)

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5⭐️
ciekawa historia, ale trochę poplątana i czasami również nudna

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

In aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, the Oakenfeld family is scared. The oldest daughter, Susan, normally a BBC junkie, is banned from watching any news and before long she and her brothers, Charles and Murray, are sent off to live in Canada with their Uncle Farley. Uncle Farley's home is a large, rambling estate, Drift House, situated on the Bay of Eternity. Yet from the moment they arrive, the Oakenfeld children feel that there is something just a bit off with the whole place, and the cook and caretaker who somehow manage to do all their work entirely unseen is only the least of it. Their impressions are confirmed when the next morning, they find that house has drifted off to sea. Yet instead of floating into the Bay of Eternity, they find themselves instead on The Sea of Time, uncontrolled and drifting dangerously close to The Great Drain.

What can I say about this book. I was thoroughly delighted by every moment. I listened to this with my boys, and the narrator Richard Poe only enhanced my enjoyment. This story was a grand adventure, sure to capture the imagination of boys, girls, and adults alike, with a full cast of characters ranging from a talking whale, fierce pirates, and mermaids. It had just the right amount of intersection between reality and fantasy without resorting to the outlandish. The Oakenfeld children were quirky, but not so much as to be unbelievable. And the fantastical creatures and people who populated the Sea of Time, were just that fantastical and complex. The plotting moved at a very good pace for a children's novel and yet their was enough to keep an adult interested as well.

Before seeing this book on the shelf at my library, I had never heard it mentioned before. That is a shame, because it was a well-written and engaging novel. The adventure will grab a child's imagination from the start. And for the parent, it serves as a way to start a conversation with your child about what happened on September 11th, 2001. It has the potential to be both a teaching tool and a fantastical escape. I think this definitely puts it in a special class of novels.

[Genna Kaminski · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Drift House: The First Voyage" is a story about three siblings who go to live with their uncle in an old house that looks like a boat. The house is called the Drift House. The two older children start noticing weird things around the house that do not add up. When they wake up in the morning they realize that they are no longer on land; the house has washed out to sea. The house turns out to be a transtemporal vessel, which means it can travel across time. This house/vessel takes the 3 children and their uncle on a crazy adventure involving mermaids, pirates, and other mysteries of the sea.
The story starts off very slow and it takes a while to get to the adventure. Students might get bored and discouraged before they reach the really interesting parts of the book. The book is recommended for children ages 9-12. I feel that children in that age group might have a hard time understanding some parts of the story. Some of the vocabulary used in the book is of a very high level. There is a glossary in the back of the book for some of the words that are hard to understand, but I found myself continuously looking in a dictionary. If parts of this book went right over my head, I feel like a 9 year old could really struggle. However, this book would be a great one to use if it was read as a class and used in conjunction with a vocabulary unit.
Even though this book is not one of my favorites I can see how some students would really enjoy reading it. Once it gets started, it is filled with adventure. There are some chapters that end in a way that makes you want to keep on reading to find out what happens next. While this book might not be a great read for everyone, it is still definitely a good book to have in the classroom.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reviews I've read of Drift House by Dale Peck either ignore the World Trade Center destruction or gloss it over. Regardless, it is the grim starting point of the book and the loss of life is one of the dominant themes of the book. It is also a pirate tale full of derring-do and time travel.

The book begins with Susan and her brothers, Charles and Murray, being driven to Canada from their home in Manhattan. Their mother wants them out of the city until she feels it is safe again for them to return. Although they never speak of the attacks in a direct manner, Susan, as the oldest, is well aware of what has happened. Their flight north, much like the evacuation of the children in WWII at the start of The Magic Bed Knob by Mary Norton, leaves the oldest children with a good sense of how much danger the remaining parents may very well be in.

Susan reminds me a lot of Wendy Darling in that she both wants adventure but also wants to protect her younger brothers. Where Wendy is brought on board to be the mother of Captain Hook's pirates, Susan, briefly gets to captain her own ship. She also has to save her brothers and uncle from some treacherous mermaids.

Susan is the brave sibling. Charles is the clever one. But Murray is extraordinary. He starts as just another annoying youngest sibbling but goes on to have the most amazing and sometimes heartbreaking growth as a character.

I listened to the audio version of the book, performed by Richard Poe. He brings the characters to life and there were times I had to pause the book when I was getting too emotionally caught up in the story.

[Taneil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The children learn to get along and work with one another, which is something that I need to learn to do, they use big words, which I love, and it has pirates, and mermaids, and adventure!

[Kash · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this for the longest time because the cover and the concept reminded me a lot of Fablehaven by Brandon Mull - a couple of children are sent to live with an eccentric family member whom they don't know, but whose property (house / boat) ends up being related to magic / magical creatures.

Unfortunately, while I'm still glad I read this, I didn't love it as much as I hoped I would. My main issue with the novel came from the fact that the children's Uncle didn't play any role, really, in the adventure. He supposedly knows little-to-nothing about the boat he inherited, and while I understand that this fascilitates a way for the children to be thr driving force in the narrative, it made his character feel almost unnecessary. I would have much rather preferred if he'd actively been teaching the children about the boat and it's history, and then he gets put in danger and it's up to them to rescue him and fix things with their newfound knowledge and training.

Instead, most of the elderly wisdom and guidance that Susan and Charles get provided come from their youngest brother Murray, who gets himself into a reincarnation time paradox and uses his "travelling back to the past to stop horrible things from ending" powers where convenient to keep the plot moving. The trouble with having such a young character become the source of wisdom and experience due to time-travel is that as a result, we never get a sense of who Murray actually is as a person. Of course, he's like, 5, so he still has time to develop a stronger personality, but while we know things about Susan and Charles from the way they bicker over language and interests, we know virtually nothing about Murray, which meant that I found it hard to connect to anything he did or told us.

There were other aspects of the book that I enjoyed:
1) President Wilson the sarcastic, intelligent parrot
2) The depicition of mermaids as evil and kinda gross
3) The reapperance of Pierre Moran

but there were also a number of things I found problematic:
1) the repeated slave jokes (none of which were funny)
2) Mario / Murrary's future self appearing on a flying carpet in a turban - I get the flying carpet, fine, it's magic, but was the turban really necessary? it felt a bit culturally inappropriate.

and some things I just found annoying:
1) The other characters constantly referenced how unique and special Susan and Charles were, but they seemed like pretty ordinary children
2) The children's uncle not being able to remember the name of the dumbwaiter ultimately being a red herring and not relevant to the story?
3) I was listening to the audiobook, and the amount of times these children say one another's names - if I have to listen to Charles and Murray call out to each other one more time... ("Charles! Charles! / Murray! Murray! / Charles!")

Overall, I'm still glad I read it but I think it just wasn't for me.

[Jill Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book begins at a specific time and place.

'After the Towers came down, Mr and Mrs Oakenfeld thought it best that their three children go and stay with their uncle in Canada.' Susan was the eldest, and not having seen the reason for their flight from New York on the television, was concerned about leaving school. She had just joined the eighth-grade debating club and was annoyed to be moved away. Charles was in fifth grade and was relieved. He was taking special classes for science and had to take a train twice a week to 205th street in the Bronx, and he found the older boys intimidating. Murry was in kindergarten and didn't care too much about all that. Of course, he still didn't want to leave his mother and father.

Susan would often argue with Charles, she was more practical and Charles jibed her saying words he called affected.

Mrs Okenfeld went with them in a limousine to Canada, where they arrived at a large and strange-looking house on 'the Bay of Eternity.' Uncle Farley was a big man who lived a solitary life. The children were all inquisitive and asked lots of questions. She left them all too quickly to return to New York.

Uncle Farley took them on a tour of the grounds. The first of the strange things to see in Drift house apart from its strange shape, and the way it was plonked on the site at a crooked angle, was the huge talking Parrot 'Mr Wilson'. The next was the dining room fresco which had images of The Drift House, Mermaids, and a whale.

The children were soon to discover that the house could indeed sail on the 'Sea of Time'.

Dale Peck has written wonderfully about family, love, adventure, and finding the strength to overcome the odds.

Time and place are very important. Now, of course, I want to read the second book in the series. I think you will too.

[Connor Andrei · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book initially because years ago I had a dream where I lived in a house that magically drifted around the world every night.

Obviously, this book was different than that. The titular drift house is a trans temporal ship meant to traverse the Sea of Time, which is never super accurately explained. All characters are divided into two camps: either they know nothing about what’s going on, or they know everything and are shocked that someone would have to ask them. That dynamic is overused throughout.

The story follows three siblings, their useless uncle, and a talking parrot as they are tricked by mermaids into almost destroying the very foundation of time.

It’s... fine. It’s a perfectly fine story. Sometimes dull, sometimes exciting, sometimes witty. I probably won’t read it again. But it was perfectly fine. I think there’s sequels, and if I came across them I’d probably read them. If Netflix made it into a limited-run series, I’d watch it and it would probably be fairly enjoyable.

[Nikky3 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where to begin... Okay so three kids who once lived in England (I think; to be honest I wasn't super paying attention) and then New York, had an American mom and a British dad except he died, so now they have a step dad, and then their mom decides that the day after 9/11 to send them to Quebec, Canada, in a limo. None of this really has to do with the story, but it takes up quite a few pages. Then some weird views on time that had me turning the book upside down to see if it made more sense. In the end it read less like 'dude I never thought of time that way' and more like 'dude had too many ideas and couldn't stick the landing'. Can't help but feel like it would have made a better short story.

[Jonathan Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. I actually liked the worldbuilding and mystery of the start of the story more than the ending, which got a little confusing for me. The small mysteries I liked a lot more than the ending in which they dealt with Queen Octavia. It's a neat book and the scenery was serene to imagine. Small quirks like the unseen housekeepers and the way language is automatically translated in the Sea of Time were creative.

[Liana]

Not quite for me. The book relied on filler to progress through the plot, making it the 450 pages that it is. It's not a bad story, it's just hard for me to stay focused and be 100% invested in ANY plot, when most of it's padded.

I think what I loved most about the book was the 'Narnia' feel in it. :) Made it feel really cozy!

[R]

I'm almost certain I read this -- the premise came to me unbidden in conversation today, all the way down the line in March 2023 -- but I have no memory of what I thought of it (perhaps a bit contrived? beyond that, nothing), and it clearly wasn't in my Goodreads listings until now. In the words of the friend to whom I mentioned it, who had a similar experience, "what an impression it made..."

[Aimi Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book I have listen to the audio book hundreds of times. This is maybe is not a book that everyone would love but I do. I love the way that its written. And all the language that's in it. As i'm writing this I am listening to it. All the ways the plot changes is different from other books. I would I would definitely recommend this book.

[Ally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another nostalgic re-read for me, I absolutely love this book still. As a child I didn’t register the sadness as much and focused on all the fun happy parts. As an adult I love the balance, the big words, and the sibling dynamic.

[Laraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pre teenage book with British words written which I liked a lot. Set in post 9-11, it is one of the few books that references that time period in New York. The children are sent to their uncles for respite and safety.

[Ivy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took to long to get anywhere...did not finish for this reason.

[amomentsilence · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Emma Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the first fantasy books I’ve read and I fell in love with the voyage. It’ll stay on my bookshelf forever.

[Elmari Kruger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is there more?

[Cheryl]

Derivative (not just the kids' names) and internally inconsistent (why did the uncle try to keep the nature of the house a secret?). A less jaded reader might like it more. p. 138 April 2024

[Kateri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was in Junior High and it's really stuck with me. I have since been wanting to slowly make my way through old books I read once upon a yesteryear and so I decided to pick this one up because it's summer and I think you can probably tell by the cover why I chose this particular title. This books is about three young children, Susan (12), Charley (9), and Murray (5) who are siblings and, after the attacks of 9/11, go to live with their Uncle Farley in Canada at an old house called Drift House on the Bay of Eternity. (Which, by the way, is actually called Eternity Bay in Quebec according to my lickity-split Googles search.) It tuns out the house gets called out by mermaids to the Sea of Time. The problem is that Drift House is broken and slowly making its way to the Great Drain, wherein all four of them will be killed. The mermaids offer help but only if Susan will fulfill a task for them. It seems the children have no option, but Murray, who has somehow managed to time travel through the house dumbwaiter, warns Susan that if she commits to the task she will somehow end up dead. Overall, this was a great book to re-visit and if the things I have to say about it interest you at all, I highly recommend you pick it up.
1. The Characters: I quite enjoyed reading the main characters. Susan decided she wanted to be a lawyer at nine and takes on a lot of responsibility caring for her younger brothers while out at sea. Charley is a science nerd and likes to make fun of his sister's English accent while struggling with the woes of being the middle child. And Murray...well, he's an interesting character. So interesting I'm not going to say much other than point to the fact that early on in the story he does a bit of time travelling, and it gets pretty interesting from there on out.
2. Narnia Parallel: For those of you Narnia fans, I felt a bit of a parallel to the first book, which I read ages ago. But with the facts that an event of violence and terror incites the characters to visit this grand estate that winds up taking them to a magical world, they're a group of siblings, returning means no time will have passed, stuff like that, I felt Peck was going for that kind of story.
3. Mermaid Culture: The mermaids are very important to this story and let me start out saying that they're sinister and awesome! But what's more awesome is their culture. It was well-thought out and original. They were likable in the we-like-to-hate-them sort of way.
4. Writing Style: Other than instances where I felt Peck's writing style would throw in aside's that were a bit unnecessary, I quite enjoyed the writing style. It's witty and very British and humorous at times. It gives it that classic children's story kind of vibe.
5. A List of Things: Overall, this book has evil mermaids, time travel, pirates, a house that turns into a boat, a 17th century french speaking sea fairer who easily gets sea sick, a flying carpet, talking parrots, whales, and butterfrogs, and radios that don't work.
6. Why it Wasn't a 5: This book couldn't be a 5 star because though I was into it, I wasn't hooked entirely. I got tired reading sometimes and had to put it down. There is good pacing, but it's definitely not a complete page turner. I do enjoy slow reads, but this one just didn't quite have it all.

[Noodles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was something I read either in middle school or early high school that I really enjoyed, and I found that even now, in college, it's still a great story!

One of the most spectacular things is the treatment of the background characters. The dynamics of the pirates and the mermaids is extremely interesting but that's spoilers. It should be sufficient to say that it is very different than the usual fantasy version of mermaids, even if their appearances are the same. It's just really nice the way the mermaids were portrayed, especially since I've been looking for badass mermaids that aren't just throwing themselves at the feet of human boys. The development of Susan and Diaphone's relationship is wonderful and a fantastic alternative to the expected romance of the leading lady.

My favourite thing, though, about Drift House is that the children are all relatable and even likable while still being realistic representations of their age. Susan clings to her English heritage even though she only lived there for two years, going so far as to force herself into an English accent via the BBC. As an eighth grader, this eye-rolling behavior really feels true, especially to me, since I exhibited nearly the same behavior at that age if you simply replace England with New York.

Charles is the token bookish kid, but that doesn't take away from his character. He is very much three dimensional, dealing with the problems of being the middle child while still being loving and caring, even protective of his siblings. The greatest part is that his strength, his prowess with electronic devices, is not how he is useful in the book. He develops other ways to be helpful and important to the characters, mostly through observation and analysis.

Murray seems to have the most interesting adventures due to spoilers, but those aren't explore in this book. I imagine he's more important in the sequel, which I fully intend on reading.

Overall, Drift House presents an incredible world with many, many facets to explore, as well as an interesting take on time travel. It's fun to learn to mechanics of the world alongside the characters, and the humorous glossary at the end is just the sweetest bonus.

[Beverly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This attempt at a Narnia-style adventure - that is an adventure with deeper meaning - should have been great. Problems: too much undigested philosophy re. time, mortality produced a cold, dry tone in some places. One reviewer remarked that the author is trying too hard. I agree. There is also a strong hint of anti-Americanism to come in future episodes through the explicit suggestion that the people of the child-heroes' era (today, that is) are causing time to move improperly resulting in (perhaps) the extinction of species and war. The author also inserts an Enlightenment-era deism (the clockmaker god)with a resultant secular humanist perspective on life that, in my opinion, stinks. This dry cosmology looks pale next to Aslan in the Narnia series.

The adventures pick up a little toward the end of the story. The gist of it is that 3 (not-Penvensy) children are sent out of New York city after 9/11 to stay with their eccentric (not-Professor Kirk) Uncle in Canada at the Sea of Eternity. Turns out that Uncle Farley's house is a boat sailing in the Sea of Time and it is up to (not-Susan P.) Susan the oldest to save humanity as we know it. She receives help from a wise and gigantic(decidedly not-Aslan) whale and a sea captain with an environmentalist bent. Also nods to A Wrinkle in Time by naming Susan's sibs Charles and Murray.

One curious aspect of this novel is the hidden psychological agenda in the creation of the villans. They are a set of mermaids led by an octopus-woman (nod to The Little Mermaid)who are superficially very beautiful and strongly feminine. Underneath their attractive veneer however, they are savage and truly repulsive creatures, which is explored in some disgusting detail. This level of disgust raises my eyebrow.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: When Susan and her younger brother Charles and Murray, are sent to stay with their eccentric uncle Farley in Canada, little do they realize that they are stepping into the adventure of a lifetime. Uncle Farley lives in a dilapidated old house that looks like a ship, and when the children wake one morning to discover they've been washed out to sea, the name Drift House begins to make sense. Without sails or an engine to propel them, and with no communication from the world they know, Drift House floats along aimlessly until a clan of diabolical mermaids lays siege to the house. It will take all of Susan's ingenuity - along with some help from a great whale, a legendary pirate, and a marauding band of privateers - to keep the mermaids from stopping time itself.

Characters: Susan Oakenfeld is twelve years old (Oldest child).
Charles Oakenfeld is Nine-year-old child (Middle child).
Murray Oakenfeld, is Five years old (youngest child).
Farley Richardson — or "Uncle Farley" as most of you will know him — is the younger brother of Annie Richardson Wheelwright Oakenfeld — aka "Mom" to Susan and Charles and Murray.
President Wilson, Uncle Farley's Pet parrot.

My Review:
This book is AWESOME! There is alot of magic, mystery, and more in this book. I LOVE the characters in this book, they are all related but, even so, they are funny, and very brave! My eyes flu over the pages of this book, it has animals, pirates, mermaids and more! So, if you like magic, then this is the book for you! I hope to get the next book on my library card next week!