12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting tale, September 3, 2001
This review is from: A Stranger Came Ashore (Harper Trophy Books) (Paperback)
A very unique fantasy, laced with Scottish traditions and culture and the folklore of the Seal-people, Selkies. Mollie Hunter writes in a style unlike that of many 9-12 authors, and her story is a slow buildup to a shocking climax.
A small family in Scotland encounters a shipwrecked survivor, a handsome young man named Finn Learson. Finn rapidly endears himself to the family, especially to the pretty Elspeth. The only ones who don't like him are young Robbie, Old Da, Tam the dog, and Nicol, Elspeth's increasingly irritated fiancee. Old Da is the grandfather of the family, a learned storyteller who tells his grandson tales about the Great Selkie, a malevolent seal-man who roofs his crystal palace with the golden hair of girls he's married and pulled underwater.
Clues begin to come together as time goes on: Finn loves dancing and strange, eerie music; he has a golden piece of eight; an omen in the ashes; his ability to literally mesmerize; the way his hands feel. Robbie has a strange feeling about it all, and when Old Da suddenly falls ill, he reveals that a stranger like Finn came ashore years before. But he dies before he can tell Robbie all of it.
Finn's intentions toward Elspeth become clearer when he and Nicol begin openly vying for her affections. Elspeth is swayed by promises of wealth and prestige, but Robbie is beginning to realize that Finn is not even human. Desperate for someone to help him, he goes to the old eccentric Yarl Corbie, whose girlfriend was stolen away mysteriously many years ago...
Perhaps one of the few flaws with this book is that it really isn't a "Tale of Suspense." Within the first fifty pages it's clear who and what Finn is, and what he's planning. However, this suspense is kept up by Old Da's last words and the mystery of Yarl Corbie.
Robbie is a fairly standard pre-adolescent, but his concern for his sister and liking for Nicol raise him above the average. We don't see enough of Old Da, nor of Yarl Corbie, who is a delectably sinister character with strange powers who adds a great deal to the plot. Elspeth is sadly a rather annoying character, who seems rather condescending even after the incident with Finn. I liked Nicol a great deal, and felt that he should have done better than Elspeth.
One thing that raises it above the ordinary is insight into old Scottish ways of living, surviving on the combined fishing and farming. Additionally, I liked the parts where the real seals are encountered, and the old legends about them and the Great Selkie; also, old Scottish traditions from the pre-Christian era.
Additionally, the book is worth it for the climax especially. The battle between Robbie, Nicol and Yarl Corbie and the increasingly sinister Finn Learson is fast-paced and almost horrifying in places, and the weird angles of Finn's power come across to the reader. Hunter's writing style is at its peak in that scene--elsewhere, it may lose younger readers with the more mythic pace and method.
An excellent fantasy, marred by only a few flaws.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Stranger Came Ashore is action-packed, April 27, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: A Stranger Came Ashore (Harper Trophy Books) (Paperback)
From the moment the bedraggled stranger, Finn Learson, burst unexpectantly into the Hendersons' home, I was captivated. I could scarcely put the book down. Robbie Henderson, a twelve year old Shetlander, learns about the magical powers of the Selkie Folk as he struggles to keep his sister, Elspeth, from marrying the Great Selkie. It's obvious why Mollie Hunter has been dubbed "Scotland's most gifted storyteller" by Connie Epstein in the journal of the Society of Children's Book Writers. Hunter, who has led an interesting life, has researched Celtic folklore.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book was awesome., November 20, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: A Stranger Came Ashore (Harper Trophy Books) (Paperback)
I loved this book, A Stranger Came Ashore. I didn't want our teacher, who read it to us, to put it down it was so suspensful. I think I recommended it to my family ten times, fearing they would forget about it. Although this book was mostly fiction I learned a lot about the culture of the people who live in the Shetland Islands. This culture is very interesting mostly because I had never heard of it before. One of the things that made this book full of suspense was you kind of knew that everything would come out all right in the end but you never knew how this would happen. Also, the way Molly Hunter described things using figurative language was simply amazing. I recommend this book to any 5th and 6th graders who like adventure and suspense. I would happily rate this book, on a scale of 1-5, a 5.
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