Journey to the River Sea Quotes

“They were steaming out of the station before Maia asked, 'Was it books in the trunk?'
'It was books, admitted Miss Minton.
And Maia said, 'Good.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“I would let her...have adventures. I would let her...choose her path. It would be hard...it was hard...but I would do it. Oh, not completely, of course. Some things have to go on. Cleaning one's teeth, arithmetic. But Maia fell in love with the Amazon. It happens. THe place was for her - and the people. Of course there was some danger, but there is danger everywhere. Two years ago, in this school, there was an outbreak of typhus, and three girls died. CHildren are knocked down and killed by horses every week, here in these streets--" She broke off, gathering her thoughts. "When she was traveling and exploring...and finding her songs, Maia wasn't just happy, she was...herself. I think something broke in Maia when her parents died, and out there it healed. Perhaps I'm mad--and the professor too-- but I think children must lead big lives...if it is in them to do so.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“...Adventures, once they were over, were things that had to stay inside one--that no one else could quite understand.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“Those who think of the Amazon as a Green Hell,” she read in an old book with a tattered spine, “bring only their own fears and prejudices to this amazing land. For whether a place is a hell or a heaven rests in yourself, and those who go with courage and an open mind may find themselves in Paradise.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“As Maia turned to go, hardly believing that there could be such happiness, she heard a loud splash. Miss Minton was leaning over the side, watching the parcel she had held on her knees floating away downriver.
“What was that?” asked Maia.
Miss Minton straightened herself.
If you must know,” she said, “it was my corset.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“You’ll never know what you’ve done for me,” he said as they reached the gates of the level crossing. “If there’s anything you want--”
Clovis grinned. “Can I have Maia when she’s grown up?”
Finn’s smile vanished in an instant.
“No,” he said.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“When you know what you want you usually get it.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“She realized that adventures, once they were over, were things that had to stay inside one--that no one else could quite understand.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“Miss Minton knew she was going to be dismissed, and she thought this was perfectly fair. A governess who let her charge sail up the rivers of the Amazon and live with Indian tribes could hardly expect to keep her job.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“It was his time with the Xanti which had changed him. They thought that everyone’s life was like a river; you had to flow with the current and not struggle, which wasted breath and made you more likely to drown.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“What do you mean to do with Maia when you do find her?” the professor asked that night.
“Take her back to the Keminskys and never let her out of my sight again,” said Miss Minton.
“She may not find it easy.”
“Why on earth not? The Keminskys are the kindest people in the world.”
“Yes. But she has tasted freedom.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“Clovis straightened himself. He squared his shoulders. He tossed back his curls. Then slowly, with immense dignity, he climbed the cellar steps.
“Unhand my servant, please,” he ordered the crows. “As you see, I am Finn Taverner.”
The crows let go of the Indian. They stared at the golden-haired youth who had appeared at the top of the cellar steps. The boy’s breeding showed in every movement; he was an undoubted and true aristocrat. Here before them was The Blood which Sir Aubrey longed for, and they were filled with joy.
The boy now addressed his servant. “You have served me well, Kumari,” he said--and every word was crystal clear; the words of a perfect English gentleman, speaking slowly to a foreigner. “Now I give you your freedom. And with it, this token of my thanks.”
And out of the pocket of his tunic he took a watch on a long chain which he handed to the Indian.
“But, sir,” said Mr. Trapwood, who had seen the glint of silver. “Should you--”
“I am a Taverner,” said Clovis. “And no one shall say that I am not grateful to those who have served me. And now, gentlemen, I am ready. I take it you have reserved a first-class cabin for me?”
“Well,” began Mr. Low.
Mr. Trapwood kicked his shin. “It shall be arranged, sir,” he said. “Everything will be taken care of.”
“Good. I should like to go on board immediately.”
“Yes, sir, of course. If you’ll just come with us.”
Clovis bowed to Miss Minton, then to Maia. His eyes were dry and his dignity was matchless.
Then he followed the crows out of the museum.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“Knowing it was her last night on the Arabella, Maia fought against sleep. She must remember it all--the lapping of the water against the side of the boat, the white moths, the fireflies…
Finn, too, was awake. “When we’re grown up I’ll come back for you, I promise. No one can stop us then.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“Maia had been sitting absolutely still on a chair in the hall, waiting.
Now she heard a loud peal on the street bell and turned to see a dark, wild-haired boy running up the steps. Taking no notice of the flustered maid, he came up to Maia.
“I’m going home, Maia,” shouted Finn. “I’m going home!”
Upstairs a door had opened, and Miss Minton came slowly down the stairs, dabbing her eyes.
Then she drew herself up to her full height.
“We are all going home,” she said.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“It’s impossible. It’s madness.”
There was a long pause.
“Or is it?” the old man said.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“I would let her…have adventures. I would let her…choose her path. It would be hard…it was hard…but I would do it. Oh, not completely, of course. Some things have to go on. Cleaning one’s teeth, arithmetic. But Maia fell in love with the Amazon. It happens. The place was for her--and the people. Of course there was some danger, but there is danger everywhere. Two years ago, in this school, there was an outbreak of typhus, and three girls died. Children are knocked down and killed by horses every week, here in these streets--” She broke off, gathering her thoughts. “When she was traveling and exploring…and finding her songs, Maia wasn’t just happy, she was…herself. I think something broke in Maia when her parents died, and out there it was healed. Perhaps I’m mad--and the professor, too--but I think children must lead big lives…if it is in them to do so. And it is in Maia.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“Mr. Murray had no doubt about Miss Minton’s honesty. It was her sanity he was not sure about.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“As for Maia, she was to go back to school.
“She will be safe there for a few years till she is ready to go out into the world,” Mr. Murray had written to Miss Minton.
So now Maia was collecting her memories.
“We mustn’t only remember the good bits,” she said. “We must remember the bad bits, too, so that we know it was real.”
But there weren’t really any bad bits once she had escaped from the twins. The fried termites which the Xanti had cooked for them hadn’t tasted very nice, and there had been a tame bush turkey which woke them up at an unearthly hour with its screeching.
“But it was all part of it,” said Maia. “It belonged.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“Maia had thought that having Finn with them would make it easier--at least they could all be miserable together--but it didn’t. Finn had disappeared into himself. He was very quiet and stood hunched up over the rail, looking out at the gray sea. The cold surprised him; he would shiver suddenly in the wind.
He had decided that Westwood was to be his fate.
“It’s what you said in the museum,” he told Miss Minton. “Come out, Finn Taverner, and be a man.’ I thought I could run away forever, but if Clovis is in trouble, I’ve got to help him.”
It was his time with the Xanti which had changed him. They thought that everyone’s life was like a river; you had to flow with the current and not struggle, which wasted breath and made you more likely to drown. And the river of life seemed to be carrying him back to Westwood.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“The children slept late, and washed and dressed almost in silence. Both of them were afraid to speak. Maia packed her belongings in an old canvas bag and stroked the dog.
“I’ll come over in a minute to say good-bye,” said Finn.
The Carters’ boat was ready to leave, breakfast tidied away, ropes coiled. The professor was sorting out the firebox and feeding in fresh logs. Miss Minton, sitting in the stern, had a parcel wrapped in burlap on her knees.
“I’m ready,” said Maia, trying to keep her voice steady. She mustn’t cry. Above all, she mustn’t sulk. “Finn’s coming over to say good-bye.”
“No need,” said Miss Minton.
“He’d like to.”
“All the same, there is no need.”
Maia looked at her governess. Miss Minton seemed different…Softer? Rounder? More at peace?
“Why?” she asked. “Why is there no need?”
“Because we’re coming with you. We’re going on. Get back on the Arabella and tell Finn we’ll follow three lengths behind.”
As Maia turned to go, hardly believing that there could be such happiness, she heard a loud splash. Miss Minton was leaning over the side, watching the parcel she had held on her knees floating away downriver.
“What was that?” asked Maia.
Miss Minton straightened herself.
If you must know,” she said, “it was my corset.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“When we’re grown up I’ll come back for you, I promise. No one can stop us then.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“Knowing it was her last night on the Arabella, Maia fought against sleep. She must remember it all--the lapping of the water against the side of the boat, the white moths, the fireflies…
Finn, too, was awake. “When we’re grown up I’ll come back for you, I promise. No one can stop us then.”
But she wasn’t grown up and nor was he, and Finn was going on alone. The professor had tried to persuade him to come back with them, but Finn only said, “I promised my father I’d go and find the Xanti. I promised.”
Now, though, lying in the dark, he realized how much he hated the idea of going on by himself. He wasn’t afraid exactly; he knew he could do it--but it suddenly seemed utterly dismal to go on without his friend.
“We could still run away into the forest,” said Maia.
But Finn said no. “Minty really cares about you. The professor told me she nearly went mad when she thought you’d been killed in the fire. You can’t play tricks on her--or on him. They’re good people. It’s just…oh, why can’t grown-ups understand that we might know what is right for us just as well as they do?”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“I’m sorry you never got my note that night,” said Minty. “I was arranging for us to go and live with them. You’ll like that, won’t you?” she asked Maia.
Maia was silent, looking down at her plate.
“Of course she will,” jeered Finn. “Sergei will be able to kneel at her feet like a person in a book.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“And when Finn complained at the end of a day that they had not come very far, she said, “What does it matter? We’ve got all the time in the world.”
Which is not always a clever thing to say.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“If this is the ‘Green Hell’ of the Amazon, then hell is where I belong,” said Maia.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“The howler monkeys had been right to laugh when he said he wasn’t going back. He had turned downriver again almost at once to fetch Maia, and he had made good time, traveling with the current--but he had come too late.
Finn went outside again and stood on the square of raked gravel that had been the Carters’ garden.
His mind seemed to have stopped working. He had no idea what to do. Should he go in to Manaus and see if he could find anything out--from the hospital perhaps?
After a while he found himself walking back along the river path to where he had left the Arabella. As he came to the fork in the path which led back into the forest, the dog put his head down excitedly into a patch of leaf mold. Finn pushed him aside and saw a smear of blood…and then a little way off, another…and another.
He almost fell over her, she lay so still, hidden in the leaves and creepers, almost as if she had burrowed into the forest to die.
But she was not dead. She lay stunned, still in her nightdress, breathing lightly with closed eyes. The blood came from a gash in her leg. He could see no burns on her skin. She must have fainted from loss of blood.
Then, when he said her name, she opened her eyes. One hand went out to his sleeve.
“Can we go now?” she whispered.
And he answered. “Yes.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“They went on arguing, but Maia had forgotten them again, following Finn in her mind.
Where was he? Did he have enough wood for the firebox? Were his maps accurate? Did he miss her at all?

Finn did miss her--she would have been surprised to know how much. He had never sailed the Arabella alone for any distance and it wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped. While she was under way he managed well, but when it came to anchoring in the evening or setting off at dawn, he would have given anything for another pair of hands. Not any pair of hands--Maia’s. She had obeyed his orders quickly but not blindly; he had learned to trust her completely.
And she was nice. Fun. Quick to catch a joke and so interested in everything--asking about the birds, the plants. This morning he had found himself starting to say, “Look, Maia!” when he saw an umbrella bird strutting along a branch, and when he realized that she wasn’t there, the exotic creature, with its sunshade of feathers, had seemed somehow less exciting. After all, sharing was something everyone wanted to do. He could hear his father’s voice calling, “Look, Finn, over there!” a dozen times a day.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“In another couple of hours we can go on board.”
He looked longingly at the lighted ship, ready for her start at dawn. She looked so clean, so nice, so British…
Mr. Low came to stand beside him. “Decent bunks, decent food, people speaking English. You can’t believe it.”
But in spite of the relief of being on the way home, the crows were broken men. Mr. Low was still feverish, Mr. Trapwood’s insect bites had spread in an infected mass over his face and neck, and neither of them could keep down their food.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“They’re a jolly lot, the lepers,” said Father Liam. “People who’ve suffered don’t have time to grumble.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea

“People who’ve suffered don’t have time to grumble.”
― Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea