Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge

Castle of Water

Dane Huckelbridge

I loved this book! Barry and Sophie are strangers whose plane crashes in the Pacific stranding them on a remote uninhabited island. Their common aim is to survive and their struggle to work together to find food from the islands meagre supply and their efforts to build a home for themselves are heart-warming. The whole delivers a satisfying read of love, loss and survival - and deserves a wider audience.

Extract
It wasn't all bananas, however. There was also the small grove of coconut palms on the islands' lee, with nuts rich in both milk and meat. A pass by the rocky cove revealed more maxima clams than Barry had initially estimated, not to mention a few strands of washed up seaweed that did seem edible, if only they could find more of it. The boulder-studded mountain in the island's middle was speckled with nests of the sooty tern, more than a few of which cradled a very edible egg. And of course, the waters around them did hold fish. Paddletail snappers out by the reef, black jacks that travelled in slow moving schools, and even the occasional mahi-mahi. However, the only decent fishing spot on the island was the very same cove where that exceedingly large octopod - theatrically dubbed 'Balthazar' by Sophie when Barry pointed the creature out to her - lurked in the shadows, ready to pilfer whatever bit on the line.
Parallels
  • Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
  • Castaway by Lucy Irvine
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Explicit sexual content