The Long Road to Sunrise

The Long Road to Sunrise by David Hough

Previously published under the title A Tangle of Roots by BeWrite, and about to be republished under the current title by Cloudberry books. David gave me this book in return for a plug on the womagwriter blog which I was only too pleased to do.

As with all David's books, this one is an absolute page turner. Once you start reading, there's no putting it down. The man certainly does know how to tell a story!

Douglas's world is thrown upside down when contact is made from a woman in Australia, who is the child of Douglas's wife, adopted before Douglas came on the scene. They decide to go to meet her, and hear her story. The woman, Faith, had what you might call an unusual childhood. She'd been adopted by an Australian couple who took her as a small child to the Amazonian jungle where they were filming a natural history programme for TV. Her parents were killed by a warlike tribe, and Faith was taken in and brought up by another, more peaceful tribe. But that was only the start of her troubles.

As her story unfolds, Douglas and his family find it hard to comprehend that so much has happened to this poor woman. Meanwhile, Douglas's nephew who has been brought up by them, is falling in love with Faith. He persuades her to go back to the jungle, making a new TV programme about her young life there. But then the warlike tribe capture her, and Douglas and his nephew must travel there themselves to rescue her...

Drama is piled on top of drama in this book, keeping you up all hours reading it. I felt the ending was a little rushed and left a few unanswered questions, but overall this is not a book I'll forget quickly. I loved the Amazonian scenes - having been there myself last year really brought them to life.