It is not down on any map; true places never are.
Maya Nelson isn't your typical thirteen-year-old. She's spent her whole life living on the sea with her marine biologist parents, her younger brother, Simon, and baby sister, Penny. Maya used to love living on a sailboat, but lately, everything feels terribly claustrophobic. Maya longs to go to school on land. To make friends. To lead a normal life. But when a violent storm hits and Maya's parents are washed overboard, life becomes anything but normal. The children manage to steer the boat toward a mysterious island, to a place that doesn't exist on a map.
Welcome to Tamarind, where fish can fly, pirates patrol the waters, jaguars lurk, the islanders are at war, and an evil, child-stealing enchantress rules the jungle.
Maya never imagined she'd have to face so many dangers. But then, who could have imagined a place like Tamarind?
In her stunning first middle grade novel, The Lost Island of Tamarind, Nadia Aguiar tells a heart-pounding adventure story about a haunting, fantastical island cut off from the outside world. The adventure continues in book two, Secrets of Tamarind, and book three, The Great Wave of Tamarind.
“The book’s magic . . . lies in Aguiar’s precise, often lyrical descriptions.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Aguiar’s exciting debut novel is a cross between Peter Pan and Lost.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Spunky kids, perilous pursuits and marine mystery make for a smashing good read.” —
Kirkus Reviews
“Each detail of this fantasy is crafted with care; readers will be drawn into this dangerous, magical world where anything is possible.” —School Library Journal

Nadia Aguiar's profile page

Nadia Aguiar worked in publishing in New York City for a number of years, and has also lived in Canada and London, but currently she lives on her own sub-tropical island of Bermuda, where she was born and raised. She is the author of The Lost Island of Tamarind, Secrets of Tamarind, and The Great Wave of Tamarind.

"Aguiar's exciting debut novel is a cross between Peter Pan and Lost. . . . Developed with seeming ease, each new character advances the plot logically and fluidly.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The book's magic . . . lies in Aguiar's precise, often lyrical descriptions. A native and resident of Bermuda, she writes with authority about daily life in the tropics. . . . The Lost Island of Tamarind has a gentle spirit, tempering its dangers with warmth.” —The New York Times Book Review
"Each detail of this fantasy is crafted with care; readers will be drawn into this dangerous, magical world where anything is possible and nothing can be fully explained...Young people will be transported to a world so different from the one they currently inhabit, following along as Maya and Simon escape their adversaries and struggle to survive in this hostile land.” —School Library Journal