Cast Away

Cast Away is a girls adventure story that has everything: shipwreck remote survival encounters with strange animals cross-cultural friendship buried treasure evil villains kidnapping threats of torture all against the stunning backdrop of Western Australias rugged south coast and virgin forests.Katie ODonoghue an eleven-year-old Irish servant girl is the sole survivor of a shipwreck on an unexplored part of the south coast of Western Australia in 1834. After days alone she finds refuge with Captain Featherby a retired sea captain who has been a pirate in his youth. He dies after a bashing by sealers (some escaped convicts) who believe he has buried treasure and that she knows where its buried. She doesnt!Escaping she wanders for days and is near death when rescued by Aboriginal people.She stays with them learning about their language and culture makes friends with a girl her own age and begins to feel accepted but the sealers harass her friends while trying to capture her and the elders decide she should be with her own people. A trio of white explorers take her to Albany to live with widowed tavern-keeper Mrs. Robinson.Katie makes new friends and learns her way around the little settlement. When her Aboriginal friends come to Albany she is completely happy. Then the sealers arrive as does Captain Featherbys old ship the Providence. The crew are intending to visit him until Katie tells them he how he died. Now abducted by the sealers Katie is taken her back to Featherbys camp in an open whaleboat. At an overnight stop she escapes but is recaptured and threatened with torture unless she reveals where the treasure is hidden.In desperation she remembers a possible hiding place. The sealers find the treasure but Katie is rescued by her Aboriginal friends and the crew of the Providence and it is retrieved. In accordance with Captain Featherbys will the riches are divided between the crew but Katie also receives a share. She sails back to Albany on the Providence and uses her share of the treasure to help Mrs. Robinson build a new tavern.The target audience is the 10 to 14-year-old competent reader though it may also appeal to young adults. With a female protagonist this book is aimed at filling a perceived gap in the offerings available to young girls who may have tired of fantasy but retain a taste for adventure.