The Girl With Gills

This accomplished debut gives us a refreshingly original, beautifully described fantasy world which combines snippets of real history, traditional folklore and a dash of modern environmental concerns. More importantly, at its heart, it is a cracking adventure story with a genuine heroine fighting for family, friendship and her community. Twelve-year-old Effra is a Larker; one of a secret community who live in houseboats along the river, making their living from trading treasures trawled from the mud. Their secret, which must be concealed for their safety from the land-dwelling Lubbers, is that over time they have developed gills to enable them to breathe underwater. Effra has been the sole carer of her young brother Fleet since the death of their beloved Grandfather, Boppa. There are two neighbouring Larkers who keep an eye on them, but she is often lonely, grieving and anxious. When she rescues a girl trapped in the mud, she tentatively enjoys the company of one who shares her passion for the river and for what the girl Bow calls mudlarking. But when an evil Larker called Rivermun is released back into the river after committing a terrible crime many years ago, he is out for revenge. He blames Effra’s family for his punishment and unless she can bring him the river serpent’s pearl, which he believes will reopen his gills, he will take Fleet and imprison him forever. To do this Effra must bargain with the ancient and powerful Mother River and outwit the terrifying Rat Queen in order to confront the truly terrible river serpent. To save her brother she would venture anything and fortunately her new friend Bow is determined to help her and proves to be an excellent ally, as is an adorable sentient rat called Clay, who Effra befriends in the Rat Queen’s kingdom. Eel island is where Rivermun has his lair and where he keeps all his captives. The description of this nightmarish amalgam of rubbish, litter and plastics echoes real life environmental horrors and it here that the Effra must defeat him. Friendship and found family are what save the day (and the river) in a thoroughly satisfying and exciting conclusion to an action packed and excellently plotted quest.