Living with the family is Miss Minton, governess to Maia and the twins, who, despite an outwardly strict appearance, begins to care deeply for Maia. Beatrice and Gwendolyn, the twin daughters, are selfish and seem to be brought up strictly to be British, while their father, the eccentric Mr Carter, obsessively collects the glass eyes of famous people. The Carters do not embrace their surroundings and almost always stay indoors, except for trips to Manaus. Maia, an orphan, is sent from this safe and cosy environment to stay with distant relations, the Carters, who are not as kind as she had hoped for.
The book opens in an exclusive London girls' school, The Mayfair Academy for Young Ladies. 'Oh, please let her write another book as fine as this, because, in any other year, we would have handed her the prize without a thought." Plot Anne Fine, British Children's Laureate (2001-3) and one of three former winners on the Guardian panel, wrote that "we all fell on Eva Ibbotson's perfectly judged, brilliantly light to read, civilised Journey To The River Sea, in which we are shown how, as one of the characters Miss Minton reminds us, 'Children must lead big lives. It was a finalist for all of the major British children's literary awards ( below), winning the Smarties Prize, ages 9–11, and garnering an unusual commendation as runner-up for the Guardian Award.
It is set mainly in Manaus, Brazil, early in the 20th century and conveys the author's vision of the Amazon River. JTTRS is an adventure novel written by Eva Ibbotson, published by MacMillan in 2001.
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