I'm Not A Searing Critic, But I Know What I Like

and what I like right now is YA author Marie-Louise Jensen.

http://www.marie-louisejensen.com/

She writes the most incredible historical fiction for young people.

I first read Between Two Seas.

The setting is 1880's Grimsby, England. Marianne is in a desperate situation. Her mother is dying and she will have nowhere to live once she passes. Her mother's last wish is that she travel to Skagen in Denmark to find her father, the father she thought she'd never meet. Screwing up all her courage, she begins the difficult and often treacherous journey to reach Denmark, and the father she never knew.

The descriptions are vivid and exciting, and as you read you wonder whether Marianne will meet her goal - either of getting to remote Skagen, Denmark or of finding her father. What you are sure of is that Marianne will have a lot to learn, and lot of growing up to do, learning to live without her mother.

I was amazed at the journey I went on with Marianne. I felt I had gone back in a time machine and experienced everything she did. Even before her journey started, Grimsby here in England felt so foreign because of her alienation from all around her except her mother. But when we get to Denmark (I'm sure that's not giving too much away) after one of the most stomach churning journeys I've ever read, we fall in love with this new country alongside Marianne. 

And the author keeps us wondering right to the end whether she'll ever find her elusive father, and what that means to her relationships with her new friends and neighbours. Oh yes, and she does find a little romance, too.

Marie-Louise Jensen gives her first novel a distinctive feel with her unique knowledge and experience of Danish culture and history. We are constantly learning Danish words and phrases, as well as the culture of a very remote part of Denmark. It really is something quite special, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Here is a link for Marie-Louise Jensen at lovereading4kids: http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/author/1607/Marie-louise-Jensen.html