The Secret of the Lonely Isles

by Joanne van Os

An intriguing adventure story set on the wide-open sea follows three hapless young children and their seafaring aunt Jem's world has been turned upside down—and it’s about to get a lot worse. His great-aunt Ella, who's also a solo, round-the-world sailor, is moving in and decides to take Jem, his sister Maddy and his brother Tyler, with her on an adventure across the great blue sea. Plagued by seasickness and left wondering what mystery Ella seems to be chasing across the water, Jem begins having strange and troubling dreams. Could they be linked to the stranger stalking them as they continue on their quest?

Genres: Young Adult, Adventure

200 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

Joanne van Os grew up in Melbourne, and has been reading since before she can remember. She was lured to the Northern Territory in 1976 for a short term job, and stayed. Life in the NT's remote places meant jobs like bullcatching, buffalo and cattle mustering, station management and ownership, and tourism.

Life with her first husband, known as the "Real Crocodile Dundee", brought about her first book, best selling memoir "Outback Heart", in 2005. Three children's novels followed, all adventure mystery stories for 9 to 12 year olds, and set in the remote north of Australia. Her first general fiction novel, "Ronan's Echo", was published in March 2014.

After 8 years living aboard and sailing in SE Asia and Australia, Joanne and her husband Lex live in Darwin.

Website: Http://joannevanos.com
Facebook: Joanne van Os Australian Author

Reviews

[Dee-Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is about four children, Jem (the main character), his brother Tyler, sister Maddy and friend Zac who live in Darwin, in the Northern Territory. Jem, Tyler and Maddy use to live on a farm, but following a mining accident where their father lost his leg, they moved to Darwin with their parents and lived with their grandmother Neenie. Their dad, Steve is struggling with his disability and assicated changes, and thus often becomes angry and this causes a stressful situation in the household of six people. In the middle of this turmoil, great-aunt Ella turns up, which results in the four children going siling with their aunt, whilst Jem's parents go to Adelaide for treatment. Ella, an intrepid sailor, came to northern Australia in order to find a location of a secret colony which was believed by some to have been established and dissapeared a long time ago, with one of the members being an relative of the family. Thus the five sail off for an adventure amongst some remote islands north of Australia. They are not alone however in their pursuits!

I really enjoyed this book. For me it was a cross between Enid Blyton's Famous Five series and Colin Thiele's Blue Fin, both of which I have fond memories of from my younger days. I really enjoyed the local aspect of the story, could relate to places in the book, the language (we really do talk like that which is a worry)and the culture. I found the family very real and I appreciated the dilemma faced by the family in relation to their father's disability and depression and found this refreshing and very real. it was interesting to see how the family dealt with it ... many families have the same issues.

I enjoyed the colony/treasure hunt as well as the local history lessons thrown in as well. The only problem I had with the story was that I wanted a bit more itme on the island and a bit more sailing adventure.

[Sally906 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jem Isherwood is a thirteen year old boy who lives with his family in Darwin in the north of Australia. They use to live on a farm, but when his dad lost a leg in a mining accident they moved to Darwin to live with Jem’s grandmother. Now with six people living in one house, tempers flair and everyone seems to be yelling at everyone else. Into the middle of this arrives great-aunt Ella. Ella has spent years sailing solo all over the world, and now she has come to Darwin to follow up the fate of a group of people who are believed to have secretly set up a colony somewhere along the north Australian coast. Ella invites Jem, his older sister Maddy, younger brother Tyler and Jem’s best friend Zac to sail with her and to give the family a break. The intrepid adventurers set out on the hunt following clues in old letters. This is a voyage that takes them to remote islands, through a whirlpool and the gradual realisation that strangers seem to be following them for some reason.

I love sailing at sunset with a glass of wine in hand, but anything more energetic than that sounds scary. THE SECRET OF THE LONELY ISLES is a rollicking good read – an adventure that had me flicking the pages, anxious to see what will happen next and I really enjoyed going along for the ride when someone else was having the adventure. It is a quick read, and if I was going to criticise it would be that I wanted more!!! I felt that just I was settling in with my new friends they had packed up their boat and gone home.

From the blurb I learnt that the author, Joanne Van Os, is an Australian writer who lives in Darwin where the story is set. She and her husband own a yacht and sail through the waters that the story is set.

[Wattle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that I won through Goodreads First Reads, and I am so glad I did!

I think that kids will love this book. It was a very easy read and only took me a day, and while it was simple (obviously, as it is aimed at children and not adults!) I found it fun and enjoyable.

I thought the characters were very easy to relate to, and that this would be more so the case for younger ones. The dialogue and writing was good and while I wasn't sure what to expect initially I found myself wanting to keep reading.

All in all this was an enjoyable book!

[Samantha-Ellen Bound · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t think The Secret of the Lonely Isles quite achieved what it was trying to be – I think perhaps it just doesn’t understand its intended audience? Good potential, particularly for a school/educational readership, but I wouldn’t recommend.

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