Ingo

Title: Ingo
Author: Helen Dunmore
Genre: Fiction
Reviewer: Sydney

The book Ingo is about a girl named Sapphire and her brother Connor. Sapphire and Connor have what seems like an almost perfect life. They live by the sea, have their own private cove (everyone in town knows about it, but they are the only ones that go there), their father has a boat that he uses to take them out on the sea. The only part of their life that could be fixed is the fighting. Sapphire’s parents often start yelling and screaming at each other. Sapphire hates it. She wishes they acted the way they did when she was younger. No fights. So Sapphire’s world is pretty much prefect. Right? Wrong. Sapphire and Connor’s lives are turned upside down when their father mysteriously disappears while taking his boat out one night after another fight. Now, it was normal for Sapphire’s father to take out his boat in the middle of the night, but he had always come back until this time. Search crews were sent out and neighbors helped search for their father. But there was no evidence of anything and eventually the search crews stopped looking and then the neighbors stopped looking too. Then about two months later someone found their father’s wrecked boat but still their father was missing. Everybody in the town assumes that their father is dead and they hold a memorial service for him, but Connor and Sapphire refuse to believe he is dead.

A year passes and much changes. Sapphire’s mother has a job downtown, is rarely home and always is moving. With no sign of their father Sapphire and her brother become more sober. That is when it happens. Almost a year after their father disappears and Connor disappears too. Sapphire immediately searches the house, but no sign of Connor. Then she thinks of the cove, but she knows that Connor would never go down there without her because they both promised their parents that they would never go down to the cove by themselves. Never the less she goes. As Sapphire gets closer to the cove she starts to feel a pull from the sea. When Sapphire gets to the cove she calls for Connor but he doesn’t answer. Sapphire wades into the water and that’s when she sees them. Connor and some girl she’s never seen before are sitting on a rock a couple feet away. The girl looks like she’s in a diving suit and their both look like they’ve been swimming and they were talking. Neither of them saw her so and Sapphire didn’t want them too. Sapphire looks out at the sunset for a minute then looks back to Connor and the girl. But the girl is gone and Connor is looking at the water. Sapphire calls to Connor and he looks up and comes to her. Sapphire and Connor never keep things from each other so when Sapphire ask Connor about the girl and when he doesn’t tell her she begins to wonder why he isn’t telling her, but that’s not the only weird thing. When Sapphire tells Connor what time it is he begins to insist that it is not actually that late, but it is. The two siblings go home with Sapphire thinking about how Connor lied to her and how he thought it wasn’t as late as he thought it was.
Will Sapphire find out the secret her brother is keeping from her? Will Sapphire and Connor find their father? Read the book to find out.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure and mystery. Something is always happening in this book; it’s almost impossible to put down. It is defiantly a book that should be added to anyone’s personal library.