Anna Mackenzie (1)

I read this as a sequel to The Sea Wreck Stranger', unfortunately I found Ebony Hill a bit stagnant in places so skimmed parts that dealt with the rebels fighting. The general story line leads on from where Ness and Dev (the man she saved and was exiled with from Dunnett) sail away from Dunnett and land at Vidya, another post apolcolyptic island that Dev comes from.

Ness's new home, the city of Vidya, is in ruins; the air is unsafe, and the buildings scarred by fire. Towers loom empty and hollow. The community of Vidya is bravely building a new society and Ness yearns to find a place where she might belong.

Sent to work on the home farms, Ness becomes caught up in surprise attacks and ongoing land battles. Working tirelessly in the medic room at Ebony Hill, she helps mend the wounded and worse, and suffers much hardship. Questioning the treatment of prisoners and witnessing the realities of war challenges Ness's commitment to this brave new society. Will she find a place for herself here?
'No matter how much you might want to leave a place, if it's where you were raised it holds a piece of you it doesn't easily give up.' Ness constantly wonders what lies across the sea at Dunnett, the island that shunned her and where she left behind the only family that she knew.… (mere)

Brilliant, i was kept enthralled from start to finish, a captivating story of a community that functions using oppression, fear and superstition. Ness, an orphan, lives with her brother and their cousin's family on Dunnett Island. The island people live a life close to the land: they are ruled by the seasons, but live in constant fear of all things that come from the sea. In the past they lost many of their folk to the ocean's toxins, and to illness brought by the occasional refugee who managed to land on their shores, seeking help. The adults in this community have been hardened by fear, loss and superstition: as a result Ness and the other young people live a restricted, hard-working life. However, the three teenage cousins - Ness, Ty and Sophie - defy the adults' orders about keeping away from the sea and whenever they can escape unnoticed, they explore and forage in a concealed cove. It's there, in the cove, where they discover a body washed ashore; a man who has been shipwrecked. His name is Dev, he is delirious and injured, he is barely alive. The three are uncertain: terrified of what might happen to the man, and to them, if he is discovered by their elders. Ness, undertakes a foolhardy, courageous gamble when she decides to keep the stranger concealed and alive. All too soon she risks everything, including her own life, to help him escape when her close-minded, 'witchhunting' community discovers her secret. Ness is an imaginative, independent young woman who questions and seeks meaning in a world her elders would drain of all variety and joy. Being hunted by her elders, Ness and Dev make their escape out to sea in a boat that they found hidden. Read the NEXT chapter in the book EBONY HILL.… (mere)