Floodland

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He has illustrated some of his books, and has provided wood-engravings for a couple of private press books. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

Ten-year-old Zoe Black was left behind on Norwich by accident when her parents escaped in the last supply ship to visit the island. Sedgwick had obviously been influenced by William Blake’s ideas of how we have the power within ourselves and our imaginations to build a society that is for the good of all, or one that is destructive and selfish. She fetches up on the remote and sinking Eels Island where there is a barbarous community, and to find out whether she ever gets off Eels Island and whether she ever finds her parents again you will have to read the book. Alone and desperate among marauding gangs, she manages to dig a derelict boat out of the mud and gets away to Eels Island.

Well, if the country got smaller when the sea rose, then there ought to be more people squashed into what's left.

The belief that she will one day find her parents spurs Zoe on in her dramatic voyage, in a story full of of courage and determination. The language in the book is simple to read but very descriptive, using lots of metaphors and personification.

No, that’s not a typo – Norwich has become an island as the ice caps melted and sea levels rose inundating much of Britain and the rest of the world. An easy read nonetheless, some might say "rushed", and entertaining if viewed as an allegory aimed at young adults. This is stunning debut novel from Marcus Sedgwick and one in which the reader is instantly transported to the watery wastelands of the Fens via strong characterisation and an atmospheric tension that envelops the reader in a sea mist that chills to the bone. I've given it three stars rather than two though because the author wasn't to blame for the publisher's failure, while the story displays clear potential. Sedgwick's writing is as usual top-notch, literate and engaging, with characters who come to life on the page.

With proper help from a competent editor it could have been turned into a good novel, but instead it was released while still some way short of publishable standard. I understand Zoe is only 10 so should only have the understanding of a 10-year-old; and the book is aimed at older children rather than adults; but I still would have liked the book to be longer to give more of a background because even young kiddies like to know why! However, as the book continued, rich characters were given little airtime, conflicts were resolved or discarded too quickly, and the ending was sophomoric at best. In fact, I think I like the story-telling more this way than if another hundred or so pages of explanation and backstories had been added: the reader has to make some leaps along the way.The best thing about this book is that if I do not know a word I can select it and directly the meaning of the word appears.