Waterfall
Lisa T. Bergren
David C. Cook, Feb 1 2011, $14.99
ISBN: 9781434764331
Every summer, sisters Gabi and Lia Betarrini accompany their archeologist parents on an excavation in Italy. The pair hates the dust and heat, but mostly the ennui. This year is especially difficult as their dad recently died and they are with their mom Dr. Adri Betarrini who works at an Etruscan dig where the youngest single male is a septuagenarian. Dr. Manero of the Italian government may send mother and daughter back to Boulder as he wants to horn in on the glory.
To pass time while mom and Manero argue over paper and espresso, the siblings enter a recently opened tomb just to look around. However, their boring hot summer ends when Gabi places her hands in handprints, which transports her back to what looks like a renaissance reenactment battle scene except the blood is obviously real. Two opposing knights Forelli and Paratore are the most combative enemies as Gabi learns she is in 1332 with these heirs to city states fighting each other. With Shakespeare centuries into the future and towering over all the women and most of the men, Gabi wonders how to go home when no tomb with handprints appears for her to try and no ruby slippers exist.
The first River of Time young adult thriller is a super suspense filled tale as teenage Gabi finds she is in all sorts of trouble starting with landing in a combat zone and unable to find immediate clothing that fits her being over a hand taller than the next tallest female in Siena. Fast-paced, prideful Gabi makes the exciting story line feel real. She is a stranger in a strange land struggling to adjust to missing her mom and sister; as much as to having no indoor plumbing and even though she knows a lot about the era using chamber pots are not the same as even portable toilets.
Harriet Klausner
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