Jane Wilson-Howarth

Fiction

 
 
 

reviews

Himalayan Kidnap

An action packed read. The story follows Alex and James' progress as they make their some time harrowing journey to find out what's happened to their parents. Chapter after chapter leaves you wondering if and how the two boys will make it. Alex and James are characters you'll want to root for. I can't wait to read the next book.


Himalayan Heist

This is an adventure story for adults and young adults. It is a breathlessly exciting page-turner, in the long tradition of quest stories.
The complex and shifting relationships of the three main protagonists – Alex and James, and their engaging girl companion Bim – are put to the test as they work their way through the beautiful and dangerous Nepalese landscape. They know what they have to do, but not what they will be required to face. Perils confront them at every turn, some natural, others man-made. The Nepalese landscape – presented in vivid and almost tactile clarity – can be beautiful, but also menacing.
In many adventure stories the characters are the main interest and the setting is little more than a lifeless backcloth; or the landscape is the writer’s real subject and the protagonists are anaemic stereotypes whose only purpose is to move the story forward. But here the characterisation is enmeshed within the action and the setting. Without noticing, readers find themselves caring about the characters, anxious when they are separated, comforted when they are reunited.
The author is a traveller. She writes about places and people she knows well, so there is an integrity in her writing and a total authenticity in the heft and feel of the story. So her accounts of the wildlife, the valleys and mountains and rivers, and the people the three main characters come across, have truth in them.

Victor Watson, editor of The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English


Madagascar Misadventure

A great tale for teenagers, already available to read on kindle (see reviews on Amazon). The audiobook is engagingly narrated by the author and augmented with atmospheric sounds of local birds.

Dhankutawallah


Himalayan Hostages

What makes this adventure story unique is the author's first hand and in depth knowledge of the flora and fauna of Nepal. The descriptions of both are so vivid that you feel you are really there, with the two brothers, Alex and James, as they desperately follow the trail of their kidnapped parents, facing life-threatening danger along the way.