Adrift in Time
- Publisher
- Ronsdale Press
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2003
- Category
- General
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781553800071
- Publish Date
- Aug 2003
- List Price
- $9.95
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
Set in the present day, John Wilson's young adult novel Adrift in Time explores the tensions in family life between parents and children. It also demonstrates how the new generation's knowledge of the family's past can ease those tensions.
The novel opens with Ian, a teenager, finding that he no longer enjoys spending his summer holidays at the family cottage on Mayne Island in British Columbia. He misses the fun of being with his friends in the city. Arguments with his father grow more and more frequent, and Ian feels that his dad refuses to see his point of view, always going on about the old days and long-dead relatives.
After one nasty argument, Ian takes off in his boat to assert his independence by rowing to the next island. But things go seriously wrong as the current sweeps Ian out to the open water of Georgia Strait. When night falls and rain begins to pelt down, Ian recognizes that hypothermia is setting in. But even as hope fades, ghosts suddenly begin appearing.Led by Emily, Ian's great grandmother, a succession of long-dead ancestors and local characters appear on the boat telling him their stories-the stories of pioneer life on the Gulf Islands-bringing understanding of his family and inspiring Ian to persevere until dawn brings rescue.
About the author
John Wilson was born in 1951 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He did his early growing up on the Island of Skye and in Paisley, near Glasgow. From 1969 to 1974, he attended the University of St. Andrews where he took an Honours B.Sc.. in Geology and never played golf once. He took a position with the Geological Survey of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In his two years there, he mapped rocks, dodged land mines and watched the country sink ever deeper into civil war. Shortly before he was due to be called into the army, John retreated back to Britain on his way to the safety of Canada. He settled on Calgary where geology was booming and the only danger was freezing to death in January. In 1979, he moved to Edmonton to take up a post with the Alberta Geological Survey. In 1988 he sold a feature article to the Globe and Mail. This fueled a smouldering mid-life crisis and he took up freelance writing full-time. With some success, John mined the experiences of his travels for articles, journalism and photo essays. He even began to express himself poetically and, with a young family, began writing children's stories. He moved to Nanaimo and then Lantzville on Vancouver Island. John has been widely published by a number of Canadian presses, with his acolades including a shortlisting for the Governor General’s Award.
