Golden Urchin
by Madeleine Brent
Blurb:
Mitji lived with the Aboriginal tribe for as long as she could remember, but with her white skin, thin nose, and red hair, she does not look like the rest of the tribe. As she nears womanhood, her oddness has made her an outcast and she must leave her people. She goes on a walkabout, in search of the walypalya, the tribe with red hair and white skin like her own, who had come from the great waters— perhaps they would receive her kindly and let her stay with them. On her wanderings she comes upon a white man, lying half-dead in the blazing heat, and nurses him back to health. Together they made their way to his home. There, Mitji becomes known as Meg and comes to understand that she is herself one of the walypalya. There are new dangers amongst this tribe, and Meg must confront the terrors of a long sea voyage before she can find happiness on the other side of the world. Only the knowledge gained from her Aboriginal tribe can guarantee her survival and that of her friends.
My Reaction:
Golden Urchin is a fascinating, well-written escapist adventure with excellent pacing and a truly heroic heroine. I knocked my rating down down half a star to 4.5 (and round down, since half-stars aren't available on Goodreads) because I felt there was room for improvement in the romance department, and it wasn't quite a five-star book for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Madeleine Brent does it again!
Mitji/Meg's adventures are endlessly interesting to read, especially when she's surviving in the wilds of Australia and Africa. Of course, I have no idea how realistic some of this information is... For instance, I've watched survival shows and seen people get terribly ill from suddenly switching to a diet of only meat, so I'm curious how certain things in this book would actually have worked out. I also have my doubts that a naturally very fair-skinned person can somehow become more or less sunburn-proof, just through exposure to sun as a child. It was still fun, though, and as long as you read it as escapist literature and not a survival guide, none of that matters.
Mitji/Meg's adventures are endlessly interesting to read, especially when she's surviving in the wilds of Australia and Africa. Of course, I have no idea how realistic some of this information is... For instance, I've watched survival shows and seen people get terribly ill from suddenly switching to a diet of only meat, so I'm curious how certain things in this book would actually have worked out. I also have my doubts that a naturally very fair-skinned person can somehow become more or less sunburn-proof, just through exposure to sun as a child. It was still fun, though, and as long as you read it as escapist literature and not a survival guide, none of that matters.
Yes, it's predictable in many ways. It has a formula to follow, but it does so in such a way that it still holds your attention. To be honest, I don't mind a certain amount of "formula". You know (in broad strokes) what to expect, and that can be comforting. Even if I know the general direction the story's headed, I'm interested in exactly how it will get there, and the book is the journey to that destination, not merely the ending itself.
Mitji/Meg is sometimes almost too perfect, but I never found her version of "a little too good to be true" annoying enough to want to stop reading. I like her best as "Mitji"; she's especially captivating in the early chapters.
Mitji/Meg is sometimes almost too perfect, but I never found her version of "a little too good to be true" annoying enough to want to stop reading. I like her best as "Mitji"; she's especially captivating in the early chapters.
The romance... Well, I don't want to venture into spoilers, but it's just not to my tastes, unfortunately. I seem to remember that the romance in Moonraker's Bride was better, and I think I liked that book better, over all, but Golden Urchin is a wonderful adventure and tale of survival. I'm glad to have more novels by Madeleine Brent yet to read for the first time.
