Journey to the River Sea

Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna in 1925 and moved to England with her father when the Nazis came into power. Ibbotson wrote more than twenty books for children and young adults, many of which garnered nominations for major awards for children's literature in the UK, including the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the Whitbread Prize. Eva's critically acclaimed Journey to the River Sea won the Smarties Gold Medal in 2001. Set in the Amazon, it was written in honour of her deceased husband Alan, a former naturalist. Imaginative and humorous, Eva's books often convey her love of nature, in particular the Austrian countryside, which is evident in works such as The Star Of Kazan and A Song For Summer. Eva passed away at her home in Newcastle on October 20th 2010. Her final book, One Dog and His Boy, was published in May 2011. Lauren St John grew up surrounded by horses, cats, dogs and a pet giraffe on a farm and game reserve in Zimbabwe, Africa, the inspiration for her bestselling White Giraffe series. At seventeen, she spent a year working in the UK as a veterinary nurse before becoming a sports and music journalist. Dead Man's Cove, the first in her Laura Marlin Mysteries series, won the 2011 Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. She is also the author of the Kat Wolfe series. A passionate conservationist, Lauren is an ambassador for the Born Free Foundation and founder of the Authors4Oceans anti-plastics campaign. When not writing or rescuing leopards, she is a full-time valet to her not-in-the-least-demanding Bengal cat, Max.

The most perfect children's book . . . captivatingly told, funny and moving Nicolette Jones Sunday Times