March 2010

Author/s: Marie-Louise Jensen
Publisher: Oxford University Press UK
Reviewed by: Shelby Thomson Age: 15 years
ISBN 13: 9780192755308

Marianne is an illegitimate child, living with her dying mother in Grimsby, England. Some of her mothers last words were, “Go to Skagen and find your father, Lars Christenson and give him my letter.”

In order to get to Skagen Marianne had to have patience, endurance and strength as she traveled on foot and by boat with Peter, Captain Larsen and Jens. Once in Skagen, she has absolutely no money, no way to communicate (as she can’t speak Danish yet), no home and no one to care for her until she meets Mikkel. He is her shoulder to cry on and her one and only friend, in fact her first friend ever! He also taught her to speak Danish and she helped him learn to speak English. She finds a place to live with a very poor family called the Jacobsen’s, and she works as their maid to pay for her stay. Their little girl, Lise takes a sudden liking to Marianne and finally finds comfort in a very unsteady home with a drunken father and an unreliable mother. After working there for a while tragedy strikes the home leaving Lise and the other children fatherless. She makes friends with a girl named Hannah who manages to find Marianne better accommodation, in a hotel! After a few months, Marianne gets to know Peter really well.

I enjoyed being able to relate to Marianne as she is the same age as I am. I understood her problems like being fatherless at a young age and it was wonderful to know how her story ended, even though mine has just begun. This is a wonderful family story with only a few things that younger children wouldn’t understand like some of her emotions and relationships.

I think that there are some values such as patience, kindness and unconditional love in this book that aren’t so easy to find in the real world. I would recommend it for children from about thirteen to experience some of the ideas had by the writer.

I understood the pain and suffering expressed in this story as the writer captured the moments well. To see the love given to her sometimes made me tearful.

I enjoyed every second of it!

Link to online catalogue
Between Two Seas