Gone to Drift
ISBN
9780993108617
Published
2016
Format
Paperback
Also an eBook
ISBN
9780993108617
PUBLISHED
2015
FORMAT
Paperback
Also an eBook
Gone to Drift is the first Young Adult novel from the Jamaican writer Diana McCaulay, and was placed second in the 2015 Burt Prize for Caribbean Literature.
Truth? Respect? Survival? Gone to Drift tells the story of Lloyd, a 12-year-old Jamaican boy, and his search for his beloved grandfather, Maas Conrad, a fisherman who is lost at sea. Lloyd suspects that his grandfather has witnessed an illegal capture of dolphins for the tourist trade and that he has been hurt, perhaps even killed. No one wants to help Lloyd except for an uptown girl who studies dolphins, his best friend Dwight and a mad man called Slowly on a sun-baked beach.
Interspersed with Lloyd’s quest on land and sea is a second voice – of Maas Conrad himself, who, unknown to Lloyd is alive but marooned on a rock. In this exciting adventure story Lloyd discovers that the enemies of his grandfather – and of the Caribbean Sea that he loves – are closer to home than he could ever imagine.
“This is my first novel for young adults,” says McCaulay, “and as reading meant so much to me as a teenager, I’m hoping Gone to Drift will be read and enjoyed by many Caribbean young people. I wanted to pay tribute to our long tradition of fishermen, and I’m so grateful the Burt Award has made that possible. I’m also thrilled that Gone to Drift is published by Papillote Press, a Caribbean publishing house which I’ve long admired.”
Gone to Drift follows on from McCaulay’s two acclaimed novels, Dog-Heart (2010) and Huracan (2012) and is built on her 2012 Regional Commonwealth prize-winning short story, The Dolphin Catchers (Granta Online).
Her latest novel is Daylight Come (2021), published by Peepal Tree Press.
2nd Place
Gone to Drift was placed second in the Burt Prize for Caribbean Young Adult Caribbean Literature in 2015.
Buy Now
A reading from the award-winning Young Adult novel Gone to Drift
En Papillote is a series of readings by authors from the list of Papillote Press of Dominica, and the UK. Each video is introduced by publisher Polly Pattullo. Here, Diana McCaulay of Jamaica reads from her Young Adult novel, Gone to Drift.
What they say
Gone to Drift is a Jamaican coming-of-age story: realistic, often funny and deeply touching.”
– Pamela Mordecai
McCaulay’s prose is lyrical. A solemn adventure about resolve, loyalty, and family, that gives readers insight into life in a small fishing community and brings to light the dangers marine life face in the wild.”
— School Library Journal
The relationships between boy and elder, man and sea, crime and poverty all lift McCaulay’s first children’s novel into a different league. Beautiful.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
— Booklist
– VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocate) magazine
Gone to Drift is a Jamaican coming-of-age story: realistic, often funny and deeply touching.”
– Pamela Mordecai
McCaulay’s prose is lyrical. A solemn adventure about resolve, loyalty, and family, that gives readers insight into life in a small fishing community and brings to light the dangers marine life face in the wild.”
— School Library Journal
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
— Booklist
– VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocate) magazine
