Categories: books
Date: 26 February 2008 19:18:27
Shortly before my brief trip to Denmark earlier this month, I came across this book, Between Two Seas, in a local bookshop. It had been nominated for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2008 and was being promoted, partly I think, because the author, Marie-Louise Jensen lives in the Ancient Roman City and is a graduate of the Creative Writing course at one of the town's two universities. I am interested in children's literature - particularly books with a strong sense of place, I decided to read this in preparation for my trip.
The story revolves around Marianne, the daughter of a shipwrecked Dane and an English woman, born in 1870 near Grimsby. Her father returns to Denmark, promising to return, without knowing his lover is expecting his child. He does not keep his promise and at her mother's deathbed, Marianne promises, with little money or experience of the world, to set off on her quest to Skagen.
I have long wished to visit Skagen, almost at the northern tip of Jutland. The headland at Grenen, the northernmost point of Denmark, is where the two parts of the North Sea, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak meet. These are, I believe, the two seas of the book's title, but I don't recall the author making this clear. (She might mean the North Sea and the Kattegat to underline the Englishness and Danishness of the girl's parentage.)
The light at Skagen is said to be quite unique, and is, no doubt, the reason why many artists made the town their base. At the time of the story, Skagen is just becoming famous amongst artists, and indeed, the artists are included in the plot. Such as it is. The plot is quite thin and I guessed the ending long before it came. There are evocative and detailed descriptions of the land- and seascape and the author conjures up a likely idea of what it must have been like to live in a remote fishing community at the mercy of the elements. There are also a few phrases of Danish which pepper the conversation, reminding the reader of the heroine's surroundings - and that she has become fluent in a remarkably short period. Too much of the narrative, however, reads like a story in a cheap magazine for my taste and I wonder how it will appeal to the 14 or 15-year olds who are already required to read weightier romances by Austen, Bronte and Dickens for their English courses at school. Others might say that the fact that it is written in the first person evokes the intimacy of the thoughts of this young woman's experience. Sadly, her experience does not plunge greater depths than the average fairy story (a fact of which the heroine is subconsciously aware when she considers briefly the possibility of there not being a happy-ever-after ending). I am not the intended target reader for this book, I realise that, but I think that teenagers would also appreciate a little more depth than Jensen offers.