Footprints in the Sand

by Sarah Challis

When Emily Kingsley arrives at the church for her eccentric Great Aunt Mary's funeral, she is still grieving for her broken relationship with the vain, mean and unfaithful Ted, and has little sorrow to spare. At the wake afterwards, she is dismayed to learn the content's of Mary's will. Emily and her cousin Clemmie must go to Mali, where they are to travel by camel into the Sahara Desert to scatter her ashes.



Clemmie, fanciful and rootless, is thrilled at the chance of adventure. Emily is not. With immense reluctance, she agrees to travel to Mali, and find Timadjlalen, a place in the desert that no one has ever heard of. Why Mary chose it as her final resting place she cannot imagine, and the thought of a hot, pointless trip is almost too much to bear. But once Emily and Clemmie set foot on the Saharan sand, and begin to uncover Mary's sixty-year-old secret, they come to understand why they must complete her journey...

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Adventure, Roman, Africa, Fiction

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Sarah Challis, whose father is the distinguished cinematographer, Christopher Challis, travelled widely with film units as a child. She has since lived in Scotland and California but is now happily settled in a Dorset village with three rescued dogs and three chickens. She is married with four sons.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/s...

Reviews

[Sharice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book on a bench in Robin Hoods Bay a few weekends ago. It was sat there with a yellow sticker on it, a message to passers by that it was free and part of the Book Crossing phenomenon. I've never seen a Book Crossing item in the wild so it kind of made my day. All in all, a good story that I couldn't put down. The writing didn't completely thrill me but the content of the story did. I wanted to find out more about the mystery at the heart of the plot and while the ending was a little predictable I didn't seem to care. I enjoyed this book a lot.

[Ilse · Rating 3 out of 5]

onbekende schrijfster, dus atijd even afwachten.

het boek begint met een heel hoog jill Mansell gehalte. De sfeer, de schrijfstijl,... alles lijkt er wat op.

Maar eens de eerste bladzijde gedaan zijn, is het boek toch plots een heel ander verhaal.
De zoektocht van 2 jonge vrouwen in een woestijn.
Hoe hard de schrijfster haar best doet om de gevaren en de nadelen in het verhaal te betrekken. het blijft toch allemaal wat 'te veilig'. Nu ja, het is natuurlijk ook geen thiller, dus het hoeft ook nergens spannend te zijn natuurlijk.

Fijn boek om te lezen, maar niet om te herlezen

[Caroline Southgate · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely story about cousins who travel to Mali to scatter their great aunts ashes at her will request. The journey to get there by plane, car, camel was amazing, I could imagine how dusty, incredibly hot it was. They find out the story behind why they are travelling so far

[Maud]

Graag gelezen, er wordt tijd genomen om de sfeer en het leven in Mali te beschrijven en ondertussen blijft het verhaal wel spannend.

[Quintiens Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Niet uitgelezen zelfs. Het was niet boeiend genoeg.

[Judith Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly readable and evoked desert scenes beautifully but plot unremarkable

[Bre Teschendorf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I fully expected this book to be a piece of quickly rolled out paperback trash. It was not. I was pleasantly surprised!
There were very interesting "learning" moments, about the history of Mali, life in the Sahara, discriptions of tribal wear, and so on. A note at the beginning of the book tells me that the authoress has been to Mali and spent time with the Toureg people, so one can only assume she is writing from a place of knowledge based on her experience, making it all the more fascinating. The descriptions, smells, sights, the feeling of the desert, are very tangible and really added to the book. There were some really beautiful sentences and "moments" that I could just feel while I was reading along. I enjoyed those scenes very much.

That said, the mystery of the book was obvious and predictable. I was hoping desperatly that the story would surprise me: it didn't.

The main characters in the book are exactly my age, but nothing about them felt like they were my age. I did my best to reflect on this from a British point of view, and even considering their culture, they are not like people in my generation, that I know, from the UK, either. I thought the author should have just gone ahead and written about people in her age group. Their additudes towards life might have rang more true.

And finally, a note on writing style - Some bad editor missed a lot of "ands". The trees were green AND leafy AND swaying AND tall. I was wearing boots AND a coat AND trousers AND a hat AND my favorite wrist watch. Ouch. That became tedious. Also, Clemmie's hair was described as silver at least 15x.... Which didn't seem poetic anymore after the 5th time and left me, finally, wondering if she actually had gone prematurely gray. It became a bad visual for me, rather than making her more lovely. There were several "things" like this that did indeed, ring of too quickly rolled out, money making paperback. Sigh.

Also, I didn't enjoy the switch of 1st person narrator at all.... The story is told in chapters rotating between three different women, each relating the story in 1st person. I wished the author had just stuck with telling the story. I like the idea of modern books having a more free form style, but only if it feels that it enhanses the story, or is out of neccisity. Like, perspectives from different time periods. Somehow, it didn't work in this book for me and felt gimicky.

One thing that did make me happy, Great Aunt Mary wasn't depicted as a saintly, amazing, gorgeous old lady, with whom the cousins (main characters) had this epic relationship. I liked that aspect of the book. That WAS realistic. I am sick of these "ladies books" with sugery sweet stories about elder relatives revealing the deep secrets of womanhood or something.

Now *Spoiler* Below
********************
I had mixed emotions about Clemmie's deciding to stay in Mali. At first I thought, "that is insanely unrealistic...." but then I remembered a British friend of mine who found a city he loved one week and moved there a week later. This reminded me that the unpredictable IS possible.
Still, it bothered me having the unrealistic romance bit thrown in at the end. I hate books the propogate this idea of meeting someone and being happily ever after.... She didn't know the guy at all. Her gushing love chapter really made me roll my eyes with an "oh, please...:"
BUT, if there was a sequel to follow up on Clemmie, I would definitely read it!
After reflecting on it for a few days, my final thought is, "What a selfish person!" Leaving her whole flat and all her life for her family to clean up, not even saying goodbye to her loving parents. Geesh. Surely she could have returned to England, just to take care of her things and then go back. I would have been much much happier with an ending like that!
BUT, this was faaarrrr more exciting! No doubt!

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Een zoetsappig verhaal over de nichtjes Emily en Clemmie die na het overlijden van hun oudtante naar Mali afreizen om haar de laatste eer te bewijzen. Tante Mary wil dat haar as op een bijzondere plek wordt uitgestrooid. In dit boek volgen we Emily en Clemmie in hun reis. Daarnaast volgen we een vriendin van tante Mary, mw Timmis, die alles weet over het verleden van Mary en de reden waarom haar as in Mali uitgestrooid moet worden.

Het verhaal leest als een trein. Het is vlot geschreven met veel afwisseling tussen de personages en uitgebreide beschrijvingen van het landschap van Mali en de woestijnen. Ik vond het een mooi boek, maar op sommige punten te fabelachtig. Het einde is daar een goed voorbeeld van. Te mooi om waar te zijn.

[Brittany · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having lived in Mali for 3 years, I found this book did the spectacular country no justice. It was as if the author had never visited or spent time there, and wrote about it purely based off tourist brochures and travel blogs. Which is a shame as I now know the author did spend time there.
This book was a basic and poor description of the landscape, culture and people. She could have been writing about any African country. The plot itself was interesting but predictable, and could have been much better written in my opinion. All in all, a complete disappointment I’m afraid.

[Nicola Tyrrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed some aspects of the travelling in this book and there was a tiny bit of found family which I adored but overall I found it was massively over written. I skim read most of this and could still follow most of the story 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favourite of Ms Challis' works. Overlong and not as well written as her other novels.

[Pat Osment · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring and not as well written as some of her other books.

[steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I found this book to be completely predictable. The story was fine, the characters were fine but there was nothing to really keep you engaged as a reader.

[Hjwoodward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I fully expected this book (even the title!) to be unreadable chick lit but it was actually quite absorbing. I enjoyed reading about Mali, life in the Sahara, descriptions of the Toureg people and so on. I looked them up on the Internet and yes they are beautiful, and their clothes are fantastic. I liked that the women are basically in control.That said, the story was pretty predictable, but in a strange way, you still wanted to make sure you were right. And I liked that, actually, I have to admit. I read it because like a person with their mouth open listening to a story, I wanted to know what happens in the end. (EM Forster's sad sad words: "Oh dear yes, the novel has to have a story." There were some annoying things - but of course I wasn't expecting beautiful writing or original descriptions. It was definitely readable and enjoyable.

[Michelle ( chelles_world_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book club read so not a book I would have chosen ..
The story of two young nieces , on reading there great aunts will , are given the task of a scattering her ashes in a remote place in the Sahara dessert .. know one has any idea why she wants her last resting place to be there , apart from her old friend of 60 years who is keeping something back ..
sounds quite a good premise , but I actually found it a bit dull , it didn’t hold my attention , my mind kept wandering as I was reading .. the ending was ok all be it very quick and I sort of had a feeling quite soon into the book why the great aunt wanted to the Sahara to be her last resting place ..
So overall I’d say just an Ok read ..

[Liselotte DP · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,75 ⭐️
In één woord prachtig! Mooi geschreven, leuke context, prachtige omgeving. Je kunt je er volledig in mee leven.
Fijn dat het vanuit 3 standpunten geschreven wordt, je kan zo goed begrijpen hoe het voor die persoon voelt.
Iedereen is anders, dat blijkt nog maar eens!
Enige reden voor niet de volle 5 sterren, is omdat ik vind dat zo’n mooi verhaal op bepaalde vlakken nog wel wat verder had kunnen / mogen uitgewerkt worden. M.a.w. vond het mega spijtig dat het al uit was, had zeker nog wel enkele dagen langer in de Sahara willen vertoeven 🙈.

Zeker lezen! Ik check ook de andere boeken van deze schrijfster eens!

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a grand adventure this book took me on!! Totally loved it! Beautiful writing, incredible descriptions of faraway lands and a mystery that will keep you turning those pages! I'll admit I had a little trouble in the first chapter, but once in, I was captured! After completing it, I now know why certain "groundwork" was given to us early on. I rarely give a 5 star rating, but I could find no fault with this book. Do yourself a favor and get a copy and travel with these two young ladies to unfamiliar places that won their hearts and will yours!

[Ruth K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly loved the way the book was wrote and how each chapter was about the 3 main characters. It kept me hooked and excited to get to the next chapter. A lovely injection of compassion love and loss intertwined with the characters individual perceptions of these on their journey . I’m keen to read another of Sarah’s books

[Jayne Griffiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not as inspired by the story as I’d hoped and part way through I began to struggle to continue. It was a little slow and a (difficult to say for a novel) but unbelievable. The way the story developed was not as ‘natural’ as I’d expected. However I stuck with it and the story came to its resolution in the end.

[Julie Round · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that felt really original in spite of having the same title as a lot of other novels. The author takes the reader into the desert with two very different characters and and develops the plot with detailed description so that one almost feels one is there, with them. It was almost as if the plot was secondary to the journey. I found it hard to put down.

[Sakshi Chawla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one of those which can easily transport the reader to another world.

The vivid descriptions, the beautiful way to put landscapes into words, the detailed portrayal of people - I loved it all.

[Caroline Goodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite book of the year so far. Amazingly written. The girls go in a journey and you literally feel like you’re there with them feeling every emotion and experiencing everything. I sent this book in a secret book swap and she also loved it!

[Annet Maurer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book at the dump shop along with other items so maybe paid 50cents for it? No expectations. However was pleasantly surprised by the storyline, the setting of Mali and the characters. The writing wasn’t awesome but overall an enjoyable easy read.

[Suzanne Groen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though it starts a bit slow, I loved this book that describes a life changing journey of two cousins to a totally different culture. A true adventure! Told with lots of respect for the local culture.

[Trina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too shallow for my liking. So non-descriptive that l couldn't picture any of the places. I didn't much care for the characters either. I gave up at the halfway mark as there are so many books and so little time in life. Sorry Ms Challis. I'm sure others loved it.

[Lauren Jackman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very intrigued by this book and at times did find it interesting, I did find it quite repetitive at times and found myself skim reading it towards the end.



It has made me feel like I want an adventure!

[Lucia Gavalova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining read and very well narrated, was able to transform myself to Mali and live the story with the characters. Easy and relaxing read.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely Wonderfull

I loved this story. I could hardly put it down. I highly recommend it to readers. Her writing is poetic and beautiful and the story is hypnotic.

[Ayse Sert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das Buch ist eine nette Abendlektüre :) jedoch fand ich die Schrift von Mrs Timmis schwer zu lesen.

[Joe Tristram · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable and easy read. I feel a bit mean giving it only 3, because it was fun and engaging, but with very simple language and a rather obvious plot.