By Mary Finn (author)
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Shortlisted for the Bisto Irish Children's Book Award. A stunning debut novel, Anila’s Journey captures a girl with an amazing talent for drawing who is swept up in an epic journey up the Ganges where she hopes she may find her father who has been long missing. A vivid Calcutta setting and a strong and convincing teenage heroine make this an exciting and dramatic story.
The Lovereading comment: Anila’s Journey is a striking debut from a fresh new voice and a powerful work of historical literary fiction. Its setting in Calcutta is so beautifully described that you can feel yourself walking the streets with Anila, a heroine so determined to test herself in the man’s world of the late 1700s that you can't fail to be totally engrossed in her world.
Menace and mystery lie in wait on a young girl's courageous journey of discovery in this powerful work of historical literary fiction.An advert in the Calcutta Gazette is looking for an apprentice draughtsman to accompany a scholar on an expedition to record avian life in Bengal. How can Anila Tandy, left to fend for herself in a city of rogues, dare to apply for a position that is clearly not meant for her? But the talented "e;Bird Girl of Calcutta"e; has never shrunk from a challenge.
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And perhaps this voyage up the Ganges might be just the thing to equip Anila in her search for her father, missing for years and presumed dead.
'A remarkable book' - Guardian
Anila’s Journey is one of the most beautiful – and beautifully written – books you will ever read. It follows the story of young Anila Tandy, recently orphaned, who embarks on a river journey with a Scottish scholar aiming to discover an elusive species of bird. I love this book for its sumptuous prose, spirited protagonist and unforgettable adventure. This is Girl With a Pearl Earring meets Journey to the River Sea , and overflows with all the sights, sounds, smells and colours of 1790s India. Anila’s Journey is a story to savour and a classic in the making; a book that will stay with you forever. Enjoy!" Mara Bergman, Editor of Anila’s Journey
Mary Finn worked for years as a magazine journalist with Radio Telefis Eireann, the Irish Broadcasting service. She lives in Dublin with her son and works as a freelance writer. Anila’s Journey is her debut novel and was inspired by an original 18th Century portrait, which hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland (and now graces the front cover), as well as a lifelong fascination with India.
4. What authors with similar appeal do you enjoy reading?
I love the historical novels of Rose Tremain and Sarah Dunant, and, for young people, Adele Geras. I love Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and the stories of Chekhov: they show you a Russia that histories can’t. Even if a story is contemporary I will be more attracted to it if it opens up a world, with its detail and colour. The best picture books do this too. I don’t like sparse plotty things with endless dialogue.
5. It’s very evocative of time and place – what research was involved in order to write the novel? Enormous! Truly. If I had stopped to think and been sane about the project, I would not have attempted it but I think I was possessed by the need to write Anila’s story. It’s a period novel, so obviously there was all that history to discover, but it’s also an investigation into another culture/cultures, another climate, another eco-system. I read so much, from Bengali folktales to East India Company ships’ logs to accounts of pianos travelling up the Ganges in the 1770s. Also lots of modern Indian fiction because novels have so much useful detail. I found websites which showed me the birds of West Bengal in wonderful close up. I got lots of useful advice from the Botanic Gardens in Dublin, a treasure-trove. Best of all, I went to Calcutta eventually and met the wonderful Bunny Gupta, a historian who steered me past my worst mistakes (wrong clothes! wrong use of language! wrong names!). But I loved all the research anyway. I’m a bit wiser now.
6. This is your debut novel. When did you first feel that one day you’d write a novel? I can’t really say. I worked as a writer, as a journalist, so I always wrote for a living. But as a child I wrote fiction and lots of it. I think I’m just a late starter.
7. What advice can you give would-be children’s authors in getting published?
I can only relate my own experience. I sent an enormous (originally the story was much longer) manuscript away to three publishers. I got encouraging replies from all of them, though equally they all turned it down. But Walker’s reply was a bit wistful, a bit “we’d like to see it again if only you would take it in handâ€. So I did, and they did, and then it all happened very smoothly. They had faith in it. I can only wish my experience to be replicated for others. One bit of advice: trust your editor and try to do as she (it’s usually a she) says. They really do know best. More About Mary Finn As a child: I was an only girl, with two brothers, and my father adored me, which is a wonderful start for any young female. On my first ever holiday when I was six, he took me to West Cork, his home county, a beautiful part of Ireland. I remember saving hay, which I thought was a heavenly activity that should happen in the city too, every day. I remember the wind singing in the telephone wires, which I thought was a noise from another, friendly world, probably heaven. Both my parents were teachers and reading was just what one did. I was taken to the library when I was six, and truly I have never left. But I also loved swimming, and horse-riding (which we couldn't afford) and having Enid Blyton-type gangs and adventures. I always had good friends.
As an adult: I still love West Cork, I still love reading and I still have good friends - some things last. I know that kindness is the only thing that matters. It's what you remember most about people at any age. The best thing about being an adult (there are some, honestly) is that this truth is now hard-wired into your bones. Also, you really don't mind quite so much what other people think about you. This is liberating and saves on clothes. Somewhat. As an artist: I wish I WAS an artist. Also a dancer, a singer, a wood turner, a dress maker, a penguin whisperer. But it seems that if I have to choose then I am a writer.The best definition I have found of a writer is this: "A writer is someone who finds writing to be much more difficult than other people do who are not writers." That's true. It makes you a very good reader though.
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Menace and mystery lie in wait on a young girl's courageous journey of discovery in this powerful work of historical literary fiction.An advert in the Calcutta Gazette is looking for an apprentice draughtsman to accompany a scholar on an expedition to record avian life in Bengal. How can Anila Tandy, left to fend for herself in a city of rogues, dare to apply for a position that is clearly not meant for her?
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Anila's Journey and determined it is suitable for children aged 11-14 years old
Anila's Journey features in the following genres: Debuts of the Month, Recommendations, Featured Books for 13+ readers, Recommended Children's eBooks, Featured Books for 11+ readers
Ebook, Paperback. £6.99. Digital. Available Immediately. Country restrictions apply..
Anila's Journey was written by Mary Finn and published by Walker Books
£6.99. Digital. Available Immediately. Country restrictions apply..
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