Title: The Waves
Series: The Island # 2
By Jen Minkman
Publication Date: October 4th, 2013
Blurb:
The first memory I have of my grandfather is of a moment that we share together.
I'm sitting on his knee looking out over the harbor. Grandpa is smoking a pipe. He points at the horizon. "Look, Walt. Our ships are out there. And one day, another even more beautiful ship will appear at the horizon. A mighty ship to take us all away. And Annabelle will be at the front deck with open arms, inviting us all to join her on board."
"Why don't we sail to her ourselves?" I inquire wide-eyed.
"Because she promised she would come," granddad replies. "And in that promise we trust. It's only the Unbelievers who think they can do everything themselves. They have no faith in the Goddess."
Walt lives in Hope Harbor, an island community that has put its trust in salvation from across the sea. The townspeople wait patiently, build their ships to sail out and welcome the Goddess, and piously visit the temple every week. Horror stories to scare their children are told about the Unbelievers on the other side of Tresco.
But not all is what it seems. Walt has questions that no one can answer, and when his best friend and cousin Yorrick is killed in an accident, he digs deeper to find out the truth about the origins of Hope Harbor's society… and the secrets of the temple.
Return to the world of The Island and discover what Walt's life was like before and after he met Leia!
Excerpt:
That night, I dream about Mom. I’m just as old as I am now, but somehow I am holding her hand like a little kid as we walk down the street together. I feel young, small and afraid. The streets abound with people holding torches, trying to scare away the darkness. It is a pitch-black night and there is no moon, and yet I can see my mother’s face very clearly in the dream.
“What’s going on?” I ask anxiously. “Where are all those people going?”
My mother smiles. “To the ship of gold, Walt. We sail tonight. We’re leaving.”
“Going where?” I don’t like the look in her eyes – she’s glancing past me to a place I can’t reach.
“Away from here. To Annabelle.”
Suddenly, my father is standing in front of us with tears in his eyes. “Please, stay with us,” he begs, grabbing my mother’s shoulders.
She is still smiling. Her eyes are full of emptiness. “I have to go.”
“Mom!” I scream when she pulls herself from his grasp and breaks into a run down the street, toward the harbor. I see a sea of people bleeding into the deep.
When I wake up, I no longer remember what her face looked like.
Author Interview:
The Avid Reader: What inspired you to write The Waves?
Jen Minkman: The numerous reviewers who begged me to write a sequel to The Island or told me the story of the Island had to be expanded upon! I normally don't do sequels, but in this case, I felt like I had a lot more to tell.
The Avid Reader: When or at what age did you know you wanted to be a writer?
Jen Minkman: I never consciously decided to be a writer; I just always loved inventing stories. I wrote my first story at age ten, and I haven't stopped ever since. However, I first wanted to be a PUBLISHED writer when I finished writing Shadow of Time (my first book) and felt the need to share it with the world. First I landed a print book deal in the Netherlands (my home country) and then I translated the book into English and self-published across the border.
The Avid Reader: What is the earliest age you remember reading your first book?
Jen Minkman: At age three. I taught myself how to read with a little help from my dad. I didn't have the patience to wait for my mom to read me bedtime stories, so I decided to learn how to do it myself. They say patience is a virtue, but I beg to differ ;)
The Avid Reader: What genre of books do you enjoy reading?
Jen Minkman: Lots of genres, but I mostly lean toward the fantastic genre (such as sci-fi, paranormal, fantasy, fairytales) as well as romance (especially paranormal romance). I generally enjoy YA more than I do adult fiction.
The Avid Reader: What is your favorite book?
Jen Minkman: Too difficult. There are too many! However, I feel that Lord of the Rings, The Martian Chronicles, The Belgariad, The Unearthly Trilogy and the Hunger Games deserve special mention.
The Avid Reader: You know I think we all have a favorite author. Who is your favorite author and why?
Jen Minkman: Again, too difficult! Among my favourites are Ray Bradbury, Stefan Zweig, Renate Dorrestein, Tonke Dragt, Thea Beckman, Suzanne Collins, C S Lewis and JRR Tolkien.
The Avid Reader: If you could travel back in time here on earth to any place or time. Where would you go and why?
Jen Minkman: I'm torn between choosing the moment man first invented words or the moment Jesus did his Sermon on the Mount. The birth of language has always fascinated me (and I'm convinced there are more animals that have language, such as dolphins and crows/ravens), but I also think it would be an awesome experience to be present at one of Jesus's most important moments. I'd like to know how much of his speech was faithfully preserved in the Bible and what it sounded like when he said it in Aramaic (or quite possibly Greek).
The Avid Reader: When writing a book do you find that writing comes easy for you or is it a difficult task?
Jen Minkman: No, it comes very easy for me. Once I have an idea in my head, all I need is time and peace of mind to write it down. I have never suffered from writer's block in my life.
The Avid Reader: Do you have any little fuzzy friends? Like a dog or a cat? Or any pets?
Jen Minkman: I have two really cute zebra finches. About a year ago, I taught them how to leave their cage safely and fly around the living room. So now they leave their 'house' in the morning, fly around and have a hanging spot on the curtain rails (I put paper on the window sills now because they poo there!) and return for baths and food in the afternoon. I think they are the happiest birds in all of The Hague!
The Avid Reader: What is your "to die for", favorite food/foods to eat?
Jen Minkman: I love sushi and Thai food, but whenever it's that time of the month, I can't stay away from peanut M&Ms.
The Avid Reader: Do you have any advice for anyone that would like to be an author?
Jen Minkman: Just do it. But don't publish too quickly; give your work to beta-readers and take their advice seriously, or you'll never learn to hone your craft.
My Review:
I received a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.
Walt lives on an island that is divide by a wall and on his side of the wall Walt and everyone on his side have been taught by their ancestors that Lady Annabelle lives on the other side and that one day Lady Annabelle will be returning for them on a beautiful ship. Walt and his cousin Yorrick who just happens to be the son of the Bookkeeper, one who takes care of and reads all the books on the island, are starting to wonder if all they have been taught about Annabelle is true or not. They are being to think that they have been lied to all these years. Yorrick tells Walt that he thinks it is time he talks to the priest about what he has figured out by reading all of the books on the books they have. Yorrick goes to the temple one morning and tells the priest that he doesn't believe that Lady Annabelle exists. Walt gets in trouble at school and decides to leave early and go meet Yorrick a little earlier than was planned. When he gets there he sees Yorrick stretching getting ready for his run. Walt sees someone rushing toward Yorrick and before Walt can comprehend what is going on and warn Yorrick the guy pushes Yorrick off the cliff. Walt thinks that the person that pushed him off the cliff was an unbeliever from the other side of the wall. Walt goes for help to rescue Yorrick but he doesn't tell anyone that he was pushed off the cliff he is afraid that whoever killed Yorrick will kill him if he tells.
After Walt's cousin Yorrick is murdered Walt becomes the Bookkeepers assissatant because he is his next living relative. Walt now gets to read all of the books and he learns the truth the same as Yorrick did. Walt with his Dad's help builds a ship to sail to the other side. He doesn't think that Annabelle is real and is going to return for them so he is going to find out for himself what is on the other side. Walt keeps his ship building a secret he thinks if the wrong person finds out then they will kill him too.
I loved reading The Island and learning about a group of people who were taught to believe in a book that was not real. They believed that this book was real because of what they had been told all of their lives. They were told the same thing year after year so eventually there was no one left alive who knew the truth. These people were known as the unbelievers and lived on one side of the wall while the people on the other side of the wall were known as the fools. I liked reading The Waves and finding out about the unbelievers who live on the other side of the wall. You've got these two groups of people who a hundred and fifty years ago was brought to this island and I guess they got into an argument as to what was right and what was wrong. They couldn't agree and probably started acting like the kids they were and thought hey we don't have to put up with you or live with you. So they decided to build a wall so they wouldn't have to be together any longer. I would love to know the who, what, how, why and when the children of the island's trouble all began. I would also like to know more about Leia and Walt's life together. Do they set sail on the ship that Walt built? What do they find on the other side? Do I recommend The Waves? Yes of course I do but I do suggest that you read The Island first so that you can learn why and how they ended up on the island.
About The Author:
Jen Minkman (1978) was born in Holland, in the town of Alphen aan den Rijn. When she was 19, she moved between The Hague, Salzburg (Austria), Brussels (Belgium) and Cambridge (UK) to complete her studies in intercultural communication. She is currently a teacher of English, career counsellor and teenage coach at a secondary school in Voorburg, Holland. She tries to read at least 100 books a year (and write a few, too!). She is a published author in her own country, and translates her own books from Dutch into English for self-publication.
In her spare time, she plays the piano, the guitar and the violin. For every novel she writes, she creates a soundtrack.
'I have always been drawn to writing. My first book was a sci-fi novel at the age of eight, which I painstakingly typed out on my dad's typewriter and illustrated myself. Nowadays, I stick to poetry, paranormal romance, chick lit and/or fantasy. In my home country, I am the first-ever published writer of paranormal romance, and I will gradually make my books also available in English (seeing I have to re-write and translate the books myself, this will take some time!).
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