Secret Of The Ron Mor Skerry

(Hardback, Main)

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Description

Fiona McConville is a child of the Western Isles whose family left the fishing life and their home on the small islet of Ron Mor, when Fiona was six, for the Scottish mainland. But city life doesn't suit Fiona so at age ten she is sent back to her beloved Isles to live with her grandparents. There she learns more about her mother's strange ways with the seals and sea birds; she hears stories of the selkies - mythological creatures, half-seal and half-human; and she wonders about her baby brother Jamie, who disappeared during the island evacuation but whom fishermen claim to have seen. Fiona determines to find Jamie and strikes up a friendship with her older cousin Rory to enlist his help. When her grandparents are suddenly threatened with eviction, Fiona and Rory put their plans into action. Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry is a magical story of the power of place and family history, interwoven with Scottish folklore. Fry's novel was the basis for John Sayles's classic film The Secret of Roan Inish and is back in print now for the first time in decades.

Reviews

"The setting is vividly evoked, and the fantasy elements are woven seamlessly into the homey details of domestic island life. Still fresh and immediate sixty years after its publication." Martha V. Parravano, The Horn Book Magazine

This exquisitely-written, mystical tale is unique, neither fact, nor pure fancy. As one young reader said, it could be true, but it really wasnt. Maybe this is why it provokes deep afterthought, and wonder. The New York Times

A poetic story which rests heavily on the folk traditions of the Western Islesand which contains much of that poetry of language and conception native to thetraditional Scots. Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Rosalie K. Fry (1911-1992) was the author and illustrator of children's books. Born in Vancouver Island, she attended school in Swansea, Wales, and then the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. She served in the Women's Royal Naval Service from 1939-1945, and lived most of her adult life in Swansea.