Allison Parkinson
Clear Concise Creative Writing
Looks can be deceiving – as Laurella Swift discovers when a delicate china pot sends the 10-year-old hurtling headlong into her third adventure back in time.
It transports the London schoolgirl onto an ocean liner bound for Batavia in 1930, where she befriends 7-year-old passenger Elsie and Bintang, the ship’s Bell Boy.
Laurella is determined to unravel the mystery surrounding a surly, solitary traveller – who the children nickname: The Bluebottle. But when Laurella and her friends delve deeper, she makes a horrifying discovery.
Laurella Swift and the Ocean of Mystery is the third book in a gripping series of Laurella Swift adventures. The historical fantasy is available in paperback and eBook formats from outlets including:
– Look out for Laurella Swift and the Ocean of Mystery in your local bookshops and libraries too –
As some of you may know, Laurella Swift is very special to me because she is based on my daughters when they were younger.
She popped into my head one day several years ago after a conversation about favourite book characters. My daughters were complaining about the lack of leading characters that looked like them – especially in chapter books – so I started to build stories around her.
Each story develops in the same way. Items I’ve bought from charity shops help me to imagine where Laurella goes and when. I start by researching the origins of each object, for example, where they came from and the history associated with that area of the world, and gradually a story unfolds.
In this story, a delicate china pot transports Laurella back to 1930, where she finds herself on an ocean liner and at the centre of a new and dangerous adventure. The sea is pivotal to my family history, with lots of my relatives – and me included – crossing seas to start new lives. I have tried to weave in some of this history into my book. I hope you enjoy it.
Believe it or not, the china pot I found in a local charity shop actually came from one of the ocean liners described in my book. This little pot has travelled the world but I have no idea how it came to end up in a charity shop in south London!