From the internationally bestselling author of the high fantasy series The Books of Pellinor comes a powerful story about the exploitation of indigenous people by the First World. Endorsed by Amnesty International as contributing to a better understanding of human rights, this poetic coming-of-age story combines magical realism and fable, and features beautiful black-and-white chapter illustrations. Simbala’s village has two treasures: the River, their road and their god; and the Book, their history, their oracle and their soul. Simbala is a Keeper of the Book, the latest in a long line of women who can use it to find answers to the villagers’ questions. As developers begin to poison the River on which the villagers rely, the Book predicts change. But this does not come in the form that they expect; it is the sympathetic foreigner who comes to the village who inflicts the greatest damage of all.
MY THOUGHTS
When I first saw this book I had never heard of it I had never heard anyone talk about it and I had never heard of the author and it is a shame as the book has such a story to tell. The story follows Sim and her village who live among a river and she is called the keeper of a book that you can ask it a question and the book will have the answer written inside and one day a lady comes and she stays with the family and she ends up stealing the book from the village so Sim decides to leave to look for the lady and the book and it’s her story about her finding out about life outside of her village. But the book also tells the story of the river that is slowly dying because of the toxins being poured into it from the cotton fields that are being put there by companies buying the land from the people who live there and driving them out. If you have the chance I would highly recommend reading this book.
cosyreadingnook.com 