The Saskiad - Hardcover

Magical, wondrous, breathtaking ... I want the whole world to read this epic coming-of-age tale! Saskia is one of the quirkiest, most loveable and carefully drawn characters I've ever met. She milks cows, reads Homer, and lives on an old farm that used to be a commune. Abandoned by her father and neglected by her oovy-groovy mother, Saskia survives her loneliness by diving deep into imaginary worlds populated by explorers and adventurers. And then ... after a postcard arrives from her missing father, the adventure starts to become very real. Though originally published for an adult audience, Brian Hall's masterpiece explores so authentically the mind and heart of a blossoming young woman, it should be read by sensitive, intelligent teenagers everywhere.

Thirteen years old, ferociously bright, and steeped in story, Saskia is growing up in, and largely holding together, a rundown commune in upstate New York. The guru is long gone, the psychedelic paint on the pickup has been covered over, and the only news Saskia gets from the father she can't remember is an occasional postcard from far, far away.

A voracious reader, Saskia injects fantasy into real life with a transforming energy. She feasts at the side of Odysseus, learns trading from Marco Polo as they travel across desert wastes, makes a sextant as a birthday present for Captain Hornblower. But Saskia needs a comrade-in-arms, and she finds one in a newcomer to her school, the beautiful Jane Singh. Their friendship is flourishing when out of the blue Saskia gets an invitation to join her father on a holiday expedition whose destination and ultimate purpose are as mysterious as the man himself.