We are the hardship generation.

After reading the opening chapters of The Far Journey, this reader thought she had made a mistake in selecting the book. How wrong! It continued to become an emotional roller coaster, a presentation of an historical period which threw the reader into the place and time like no other. And it was because of the main character's unique view - the past, experienced by a very modern young girl. It's time travel with a difference.

Paula Masters, sixteen, was a rich kid. She used to be a grade A student and was already getting recognition for her riding prowess. Then her horse died, her parents divorced, and she became a self pitying, unkind, attention seeking, self satisfying lazy teen, a liar and manipulator whose only saving grace was her love for her little Downs Syndrome brother. Saved from school expulsion only by the threats to sue by her lawyer mother, she knows that she can still expect parental punishment, so, when she passes out at her little brother's birthday party and wakes up, in considerable pain in what looks like a reinactment camp for wayward kids, she's not surprised. Just horrified that her mother would do this to her. It's horrible. No hospitals, no conurbations, no doctors, no medicines, no communications, no WiFi , no T.V., no railway, no roads - just wagons travelling through open land, the constant fear of, well, everything, from storms and mud, heat and cold, injury, disease and hunger. And Indians. A modern day girl stuck in the 1800s on a 2000+ mile journey through constantly hostile lands.

The narration by Patricia Santomasso has good pacing, individually voiced protagonists and she really becomes Paula, later to be Libby, the main protagonist and story teller. So much so, this reader forgot that she was listening to a narration and simply became absorbed into the book. A fine performance.

This book is fantastic, vital, alive and often heartbreaking, a picture of real people patiently trying to find a new life, all seen through the eyes of someone who had everything then had it all taken away to become one of them. I don't have words to give sufficient praise. A must for everyone if only to show how very lucky we all are.

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A book worth reading or listening too.

A beautifully told story, history & landscapes come to life, mixed with the most fascinating characters, Paula/Libby takes us on her journey from present to past and back, the ending is a good ending but for me I wonder why she’s not interested in checking out where Libby’s family are in the present. I would recommend this book, and I’m going to check out some of the authors other books.

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fantastic

I loved this book, the story had me enthralled, the hardships were terrible but people pulled together.

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Excellent

What made the experience of listening to The Far Journey the most enjoyable?

Everything made this listening experience enjoyable. Great story, historically accurate, well presented by an engaging narrator. I was riveted from start to finish. A book for young and old. alike. I have to wonder if the author is a teacher because he has captured the teen of today very well. It was fascinating to see the chinks in her armor and how those were revealed more and more as her challenge goes on. We all think our lives are so hard at times but this novel brings it home that we have no idea what hard really is.

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Absolutely beautiful!

A wonderful book from start to finish. I loved everything about it.
A must read.

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Brilliant...!

Of all the books I have read in my sixty something years this has been by far the best, just didn't want it to finish. I do so hope they make a movie of it. world be awesome 🤗

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