Journey's End

by Rachel Hawkins Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld

Overview

New York Times*bestselling author Rachel Hawkins brings us a riveting middle grade fantasy-adventure, perfect for fans of Lisa Graff.
*
The town of Journey's End may not*literally*be at the end of the world, but it sure feels like it to Nolie Stanhope. Spending the summer with her scientist father in the tiny Scottish village isn't exactly Nolie's idea of a good time, but she soon finds a friend: native Journey's Ender Bel McKissick.*

While Nolie's father came to Journey's End to study the Boundary--a mysterious fog bank offshore--Bel's family *can't afford to consider it a threat.* The McKissick's livelihood depends on the tourists drawn by legends of a curse. Still, whether you believe in magic or science, going into the Boundary means you'll never come back.*

...Unless you do. Albert Etheridge, a boy who disappeared into the Boundary in 1914, suddenly returns--without having aged a day and with no memory of the past hundred years. Then the Boundary starts creeping closer to the town, threatening to consume everyone within.

While Nolie's father wants to have the village evacuated, Bel's parents lead the charge to stay in Journey's End. Meanwhile, Albert and the girls look for ways to stop the encroaching boundary, coming across an ancient Scottish spell that requires magic, a quest, and a sacrifice.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

09/05/2016
Adventure and friendship are the hallmarks of Hawkins’s (the Rebel Belle series) magical, mystical tale of a small Scottish town and the encroaching fog that threatens it. Nolie Stanhope, 12, is visiting Journey’s End to spend time with her scientist father, who is studying a strange weather phenomenon known as the Boundary. Bel is the same age as Nolie and grew up in town, surrounded by stories of the mysterious fog that now keeps the town afloat with tourism. On the way to becoming friends, the two girls encounter Albert, a 12-year-old boy lost to the sea and fog nearly a century earlier. Together, the trio must find a way to keep the Boundary from swallowing up Journey’s End forever. Filled with delightful interactions and characterizations, the story meanders happily through local myth and legend, seamlessly blending an American and Scottish perspectives while marrying current events with those of a time long past. Rife with emotion and adventure, Hawkins’s novel celebrates the joyful explorations of childhood and the sometimes-difficult lessons learned with age. Ages 8–12. Agent: Holly Root, Waxman Leavell Literary. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

"Hawkins’s latest middle grade novel is a spooky tale of friendship and adventure."—School Library Journal

"[T]he story meanders happily through local myth and legend, seamlessly blending an American and Scottish perspectives....Rife with emotion and adventure, Hawkins’s novel celebrates the joyful explorations of childhood and the sometimes-difficult lessons learned with age."—Publisher's Weekly

"Entwined with the contemporary story...is an account of a 500-year-old tragedy: the death of a laird's son, the nanny punished for it, and a powerful curse."—Kirkus

"At the heart of the story . . . is not the supernatural phenomenon but the slowly developing relationships between the two girls. . . . readers who like their story’s threads, supernatural or otherwise, neatly tied up will find this journey’s conclusion perfectly satisfying."—BCCB

School Library Journal

08/01/2016
Gr 4–6—Hawkins's latest middle grade novel is a spooky tale of friendship and adventure set on the gloomy and fog-shrouded coast of Scotland. Nolie Stanhope isn't looking forward to spending her summer in a remote village in Scotland, until she learns about the Boundary, the mysterious fog bank lurking just off the coast of the village of Journey's End. While her scientist father searches to unearth the secrets of the Boundary, most of the residents of Journey's End seem content with fearful coexistence. When a strange boy appears on the beach and the Boundary starts moving closer to the shore, Nolie and her new friend Bel must search for the truth and find a way to stop the Boundary before it's too late. The story is well paced and suspenseful, and readers are sure to relate to the doubts and thrills as Nolie and Bel overcome their apprehension and become great friends. The family relationships are especially poignant, and several secondary characters help to progress the plot and provide tension. The dreary Scottish weather and a liberal sprinkling of Scottish slang and jargon add to the atmosphere; however, there isn't much depth to the myths and mysteries that create the Boundary, which makes the easily accomplished ending feel somewhat unsatisfying. VERDICT A suspenseful book; recommended for younger middle grade readers who would like something slightly scary that doesn't delve deeply into more ominous themes.—Laken Hottle, Providence Community Library, RI

DECEMBER 2016 - AudioFile

A magical adventure in which a strange fog threatens to consume a fishing village in Scotland needs a dynamic voice to narrate. Saskia Maarleveld meets that challenge with relish. Nolie, a spunky ghost-hunting 12-year-old from Georgia, joins her father, a scientist, as he studies the fog, known locally as the Boundary. When she befriends Bel, a local girl, and together they meet a boy who was apparently lost in the fog a century earlier, the fog moves closer. Maarleveld effortlessly blends the characters’ American and Scottish accents and nails the differences between the Scottish of today and that of the early 1900s. As Nolie, Maarleveld is persuasive in convincing Bel to help vanquish the fog and charmingly enthusiastic as Albert gleefully takes to the new century he finds himself in. M.F.T. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2016-07-20
The Boundary, a legendary fog bank, hovers off the Scottish coast, drawing welcome tourists and unwelcome scientists to the picturesque village of Journey’s End; but as three preteens discover, it’s anything but benign. Bel’s long-established family makes a living ferrying tourists out to view the Boundary and recounting spooky tales of those claimed by the fog. When Nolie, a spunky, white Georgian, arrives to visit her scientist dad, she offers the timid white Scottish girl a welcome dose of warmth and fun. Bel, recently hurt by a friend’s abandonment, and Nolie, not fully reconciled to her parents’ divorce, form a close bond. Nolie, a ghost aficionado intrigued by legends of the Boundary, becomes even more fascinated when they discover Albert wandering on the beach. Last seen in 1918 rowing into the fog, the white boy provides firsthand confirmation that the legends are true. Entwined with the contemporary story, which unfolds in a third-person narration that switches focus between Nolie and Bel, is an account of a 500-year-old tragedy: the death of a laird’s son, the nanny punished for it, and a powerful curse. Legend says the Boundary can be kept at bay only while the lighthouse is lit. Albert relit the darkened lighthouse in 1918—and was lost for a century. Should the three risk trying again? A gently atmospheric ghost story with an intriguing setting and an appealing trio of protagonists. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171993733
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	10/25/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

It was fairly quiet in the village at night, and Bel didn’t know if that was because the weather had been so poor, or if after the meeting, everyone was doing the same thing that her family had wanted to do—go home and talk it all over. The arcade was closed earlier than normal, and while Bel saw a few people down by the harbor, sipping from Styrofoam cups of tea, on the whole, it was nearly empty.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Journey's End"
by .
Copyright © 2016 Rachel Hawkins.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Young Readers Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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