THE DEVIL'S OWN
by Deborah Lisson
A boring family cruise takes a terrifying turn when 15-year- old Julie finds herself in the midst of a mutiny off Australia's west coast, back in 1629. Leaving the yacht at night to investigate a fire on a deserted island, Julie is captured by boys from the ship, hiding from the mutineers. She and one of the boys escape and join the soldiers battling to survive until help arrives. Amid shocking brutality and murder, they develop strong bonds of love and friendship. Help does arrive at the crucial moment; the criminals are duly punished; and Julie returns to the present, more loving and mature. Though she overwrites in the Bulwer-Lytton tradition and her authorial voice can be jarringly intrusive (she also tends to impose modern behavior on her 17th-century characters), Australian Lisson's thrilling narrative does compel attention. Inspired by a violent historic incident, this flawed first novel is not for the faint of heart. (Fiction. YA)