cover image Everlasting

Everlasting

Angie Frazier, Scholastic Press, $17.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-545-11473-8

Part romance, part adventure novel, Frazier's debut makes for a light summer read. In 1855 17-year-old Camille Rowen sets out from San Francisco with her father for one last sea voyage before entering into a passionless but financially advantageous marriage ("She had four months to dig through her soul and unearth the feelings she knew were hiding somewhere"). En route to Australia, the ship goes down in a storm and her father drowns, just after a mysterious letter surfaces from her supposedly dead mother, which involves an enchanted map and stone that holds the power of immortality. Camille finds herself stranded in Melbourne with the first mate, who (it's immediately evident) is the real love of her life, and they begin the arduous trip to Port Adelaide to meet her mother and search for the magic stone, which may be cursed. The characters never break out of their archetypal molds, and the somewhat discursive plot holds few surprises, despite the supernatural elements, but readers whose dreams of adventure and true love mirror Camille's will find her an easy heroine with whom to identify. Ages 12–up. (June)