Journey to the River Sea

Eva Ibbotson writes…

Many years ago, a friend, who had been travelling in Brazil, told me that a thousand miles from the mouth of the Amazon river, in a city called Manaus, there was a fantastic opera house with grass growing through cracks in the stone and howler monkeys screeching on the roof. I immediately felt that little kick inside the head which means that you have found something that is yours. For years I researched that part of the world. I learned about the ‘rubber barons’ who became so rich from harvesting rubber trees that they could wash their carriage horses in champagne. It was they who built Manaus and sent for famous entertainers to perform in their beautiful opera house. Yet all the time the untamed jungle was on the doorstep, waiting to take over if they failed.

I have written books for children about wizards, witches, harpies and ghosts, and books for adults about all sorts of things, but my interest in the exotic world of the Amazon has never left me. Journey to the River Sea is my attempt to share this world with you.