Far from the idyllic world of adventure and discovery Maia had imagined, the Carters turn out to be small-minded, mean and greedy people, shut away from the wonders of the outside world and only interested in the allowance they are paid each month by Mr Murray. Following a long journey across the Atlantic, during which she meets and befriends a young actor named Clovis King, Maia and her Governess Miss Minton reach the home of Mr and Mrs Carter and their twin daughters, Beatrice and Gwendoline. The year is 1910, and following the death of her parents the family lawyer, Mr Murray, has located some distant relatives living in the heart of the Amazon basin who are willing to take Maia in – in return for a share of her inherited fortune. Maia, our heroine, is a young girl living in a posh but pleasant boarding school in Mayfair. This exciting adventure explores the theme of new beginnings and the fear and anticipation of the unknown, as well as inviting the reader to share in the strange but exciting world of the Amazon rainforest.Įva Ibbotson wrote ‘Journey’ following the death of her naturalist husband and the book is an affectionate tribute to his memory. In the final chapters she reluctantly returns to England and her former school … or is there a further twist? Through her relationship with her more adventurous English governess and the son of a deceased naturalist, she gradually begins to explore her surroundings and passions.

Her vision of a new life experiencing the sights, smells and sounds of the rainforest is dashed when she discovers that her relatives have no wish to integrate with the local environment and spend their days locked in their sterile house, keeping bugs and germs at bay. The book follows the adventures of Maia, a young orphan, who is sent by her guardian to live with distant cousins on the banks of the Amazon, near Manaus in Brazil.

Miss minton journey to the river sea