The Stranger is the second of Sarah Singleton’s India books aimed at teenagers and young adults, and picks up the lives of the three travellers from where it left off in the first book – The Island. Charlotte is now working on the tiger reserve but a lucky escape from a train crash leads to her drawing the unwanted attentions of a stranger called Jack. Otto, seeing Charlotte on the news, abandons Mumbai and races to be with her, pretending to be her boyfriend in an attempt to discourage Jack’s advances. Jen, meanwhile, has become bored with life on the idyllic island and interprets a dream as meaning she has to find Charlotte. The three are thus reunited.
But this was far from a reunion in happy circumstances. The reserve was in trouble. Poachers were hunting the dwindling number of tigers, illegal quarrying was rife and there was a danger of much needed funding being withdrawn. On top of that, Jack’s interest in Charlotte was becoming obsessive.
The tale also sees the return of Mark, the journalist from The Island with whom Charlotte had a brief fling. He can smell a story, but is it that or his thoughts of Charlotte that prompt him to make the long journey to the tiger reserve?
Is The Stranger Any Good?
Oh yes. Sarah Singleton paints a vivid picture of Indian life that takes in all the senses while telling what is basically an action adventure story that pulls the reader from page to page. Teenage angst is also added to the mix as Charlotte and Otto battle with their feelings for each other.
There is danger, there is violence, there is love, but there is a strong thread of friendship that binds the novel together.
Though the events in The Stranger follow on from those in The Island, the book works as a standalone novel. But, then again, why miss out on the pleasure of reading both?
About Sarah Singleton
Born in 1966, Sarah Singleton’s writing career started as a reporter on local newspapers. The Stranger is her ninth novel, all of which were aimed at the young adult market with the exception of The Crow Maiden. Her novel Century won the Booktrust Teenage Prize in 2005. Her 2006 novel Heretic was published in the USA, in 2008, under the title Out of the Shadows.
She has also written numerous short stories, which have appeared in Black Static and Interzone among others.
Sources:
- The Stranger (ISBN 978-0-85707-073-9, 298 pages), published in 2011 by Simon & Schuster.
Steve Rogerson - Steve Rogerson is a UK-based writer specialising in television, technology, sports and beer.
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