Another Shore [Library Binding]

Nancy Bond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1988

Seventeen-year-old Lyn, working in a reconstructed colonial settlement in Nova Scotia, suddenly finds herself transported back to 1744, when the French inhabitants are at war with England.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lyn, 17, takes a summer job in a reconstructed village in Nova Scotia, and finds herself transported back in time to the original French settlement. She is accepted there as a member of a local family, and gradually begins to adapt to new conditions and routines. Lyn learns that she is not alone in her predicamentamong the villagers are two who have similarly been thrown back from the 20th centurybut this knowledge does not help her solve the puzzle of how to return to her own time. As her attachments to those around her deepen, her dilemma becomes even more complex: not merely how to go back to her century, but whether to try to go back at all. Bond evokes the details, ambience and inhabitants of an 18th century port village so skillfully that the reader happily makes every necessary suspension of disbelief. The novel also explores such rich, timeless themes as identity, loyalty and the ambiguity of many necessary choices. It finishes on a note so unexpected and striking that the book's power will not easily forgotten. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9-12 Bond, author of A String in the Harp (Macmillan, 1976), a fine time fantasy set in Wales, uses the genre to entirely different effect here. Lyn Paget is spending the summer before college working as a serving girl at the reconstructed 18th-Century Nova Scotia port town of Louisbourg. She researches the life of a young girl of that time period named Elisabeth Bernard to give her character a real base. One day she blacks out and awakens to find that it is 1744 and that others regard her as the original Elisabeth. Struggling to understand what has happened to her and to survive, Lyn/Elisabeth discovers that she is not the only person to have slipped back through time, and the others have been unable to find a way back to the 20th Century. Bond skillfully builds the details of Lyn/Elisabeth's new life and involves readers along with her as she struggles to reconcile 20th-Century values with those of the 18th Century. As Jean Marzollo does in Halfway Down Paddy Lane (Dial, 1981), Bond includes vivid details about life styles, particularly ideas about cleanliness and personal habits, which are generally omitted from time fantasies for younger readers. Lyn/Elisabeth begins to grow attached to her ``family'' and to a man in whom she tries to confide, bonds that take on greater significance when readers realize that she apparently is not going to be able to return to the present. This intense twist on the time fantasy genre forces readers not only to learn from the past but to accept its reality. Lengthy and challenging, this book more likely will appeal to readers of historical fiction than to readers of fantasy, as it is in the area of history that its real lessons lie. Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Library Binding: 308 pages
• Publisher: Margaret Mcelderry (November 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689504632
• ISBN-13: 978-0689504631
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,033,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you can find this book, READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, October 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Another Shore (Library Binding)

This is one of the best books I've ever read--and I've read a lot! Seventeen year old Lyn travels back in time to 18th Century Louisburg, and is assumed to be a local girl, Elizabeth. Living Elizabeth's life, she struggles to get along in this time period and also figure out what happened to her. It is a most enjoyable book, and it's a shame that it's out of print. I was fortunate to stumble across it at one of my local libraries. If it's ever reprinted, you can be sure I'll purchase it in a hurry!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good story, April 16, 2000

By 

no - See all my reviews

This review is from: Another Shore (Library Binding)

This story just draws you in. The book is a little slow at first, but I've read it several times and I really enjoy it. The historical accuracy is astounding. I like the way the author has Lyn react with situations she's not used to (ex.bathing). This is a good book that I really recommend.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Is there a sequel?, May 13, 2000

By 

Michelle Taylor (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Another Shore (Library Binding)

I found this to be a great novel, a little hard to get into, but once I got going found it pretty cool. What annoys me is that this book seems (to me) that there should be a sequel!