Ride North

Maria De Jong has the makings of a good writer.  Set in the northernmost point of the deep New Zealand countryside, her well-written story describes the journey taken by 12-year-old Folly in her bid to deposit the ashes of her dead mother where she would have wished. Unfamiliar animal life like rurus and wekas make an appearance as Tooth, Folly’s faithful and very long-suffering horse, takes her ever further into dense, semi-explored territory. The two maintain a continuous conversation, with Folly coming up with the mostly cynical comments Tooth continues to provide in her imagination.

And he has reason. Because Folly is running away, resentful of her otherwise loving father’s decision to bring a new girlfriend into the house so soon after his wife’s death. Folly then gets to hear over the radio that rivers are being dragged in the search for her although she is now widely assumed to be dead. But this news only causes her minimum emotion, with any worry or guilt about the state of her father’s and younger brother’s feelings quickly brushed aside.  At this point, it gets harder to believe in someone of any age so overwhelmingly out of touch with basic human emotions. She goes on to outwit and escape two murderous crooks whose money she has stolen, but as a person she no longer carries conviction as a still young child.

Ride North remains a competent piece of writing, but it could have been so much better. But given the choice of exploring the true complexity of an angry child’s emotions in this sort of situation the author opts instead for describing more increasingly unlikely adventures. Ghosts also make a brief appearance. By the end it has all got a little too much, notwithstanding some witty dialogue and a real feeling for nature still at its wildest.