What do readers think of The Voyage of the Morning Light by Marina Endicott? Write your own review.

This is quite a different book. While the story is of the coming of age of a young girl, it is also a travel log, a homage to Greek literature and a study in relationships. The descriptive language of Kay's views as she travels aboard the Morning Light places the reader on the deck with her. Her enthusiasm and respect for learning is to be admired. The book takes Kay from 13 into her 20's as she learns from her past and struggles to find out where she belongs. Through her struggles, travels and friendships, Kay discovers what home really is and the importance of family.

I am not sure if I truly enjoyed the story of the book. I found the story line confusing or not giving complete information. You would get snippets but never find out what happened to the characters. Such as with the Indian school the girls lived and taught at with their father. I felt like when it was referred, there was pieces of information left out.

One thing that I loved in the book was the detailed picture presented to the reader with the voyages and the islands. I felt like I was there on the ship and all the different ports.

For some reason, I thought the Voyage of the Morning Light was an adventure story similar to an Indiana Jones story. It's not. Sailing around the world is an adventure, but this isn't a rowdy one. The descriptions of animals, the ocean, and the sky are beautiful. Worth reading twice. The book is fiction but is based on an actual situation or a boy being purchased for four pounds of tobacco. The problem that ensued could be related to today's practice of adopting an orphan from an impoverished country and raising him in the United States.

The Voyage of the Morning Light is first and foremost a story filled with little stories. In the course of the book the author expresses her views on many subjects beginning with evil of Indian schools of the late 19th century. There is a lack of substantive discussion of the ethics or morality of key actions as the trade of tobacco for a young boy. The principal characters are really two young people who are adept managers of the adults in their lives. The book gives one insight into the activities of an about to become obsolete method of shipping freight on sailing craft and life on about to be marginalized vessels. The book needs a sharp eyed editor to eliminate the extraneous material.

The book had an interesting theme: 2 half sisters a generation apart making their home on a ship and traveling to remote areas. When a young boy from an island takes on the demeanor of a don and brother things change for all. The story was good but the characters shallow.

I love historical fiction! That said, I really did not enjoy this book. I was planning on giving it two stars but gave it a third for the author's prose and evident knowledge of what she is writing about. I did not think the characters were as fleshed out as I want them to be and had a difficult time liking them at all. Then there is the sudden insertion of Greek sentences, with no translation. One of the characters is learning Greek but the random sentences meant nothing to me. Then for whatever reason, there would be included 4 or 5 numbered sentences. Were these thoughts of one of the main characters? Was it instructions from the editor to the author? I have no idea. The author did write beautifully about the sea and I especially enjoyed the inclusion of the dolphins and whales which ran along side the ship. Maybe I just do not appreciate the style of this author, but I won't be picking up any more of her books to read.

Set primarily in the first decade of the 20th Century, this historical novel by award-winning Canadian writer, Marina Endicott, describes the experience of a young Canadian woman who accompanies her sister, and her sister's husband, the ship's captain, on a commercial cargo ship's journey around the world. The family returned with a young Micronesian boy to "give him a better life". Inspired by pre-WW I published letters of a sea-faring Canadian, the author successfully captures aspects of life at sea, and the consequences of transplanting a child to another culture. Book clubs might enjoy discussing its important themes, though some readers may find the novel's pace often feels like The Doldrums rather than a fast run at full sail..

This book was a story of two sisters, a young native boy adopted by the older sister and the husband of that older sister. The bulk of this book takes place during the end of the 18th century during a long (long long) trip from Canada across numerous Seas to deliver good sold and purchased in various countries and back again, eventually to Canada. The last portion of the book deals with the younger sister and her time traveling back to the islands in the area near New Zealand with her "cousin" or "step brother" who went back to visit his homeland. It was more like a Travelogue than a novel. The settings were beautifully described, but my reading definitely went slowly. I found myself even preferring ironing to reading the book. I liked the characters and the descriptions of the islands and life on the boat were interesting but far from gripping. I hung in there assuming something would eventually happen in the plot, but it was so slow to develop that I somewhat lost interest. I give the book two stars instead of one because it wasn't bad enough for me to quit reading, but I just can't speak highly of a book that moved so slowly. Maybe reading it during a time that didn't include Covid Quarantine might have improved my experience because I am enjoying plot heavy but well written books right now, but I must say, I was very anxious to get on to my next book club selection which, fortunately, was fantastic.