A Bend in the Breeze

When eleven-year-old Pascale Chardon finds herself on a lifeboat drifting toward an uncharted island with no memory of how she got there, all she wants is to get back to her family. The islanders, however, have a different objective.

For many decades, the islanders have been anticipating the arrival of someone foretold only as the Long Awaited. The Long Awaited is said to have knowledge of the island’s future and will tell the islanders of their fate seventeen days after their arrival.

At first Pascale is sure she’s not the Long Awaited, but when strange things begin to happen, she finds it impossible to be certain of anything. Could she be the Long Awaited after all?

A Bend in the Breeze, award-winning author Valerie Sherrard’s 30th novel, is a delightful tale about the importance of love and compassion.

AUTHOR

Valerie Sherrard

Valerie Sherrard is an award-winning author of picture books and middle-grade and young adult novels. Her novel The Glory Wind won the Geoffrey Bilson and the Ann Connor Brimer Awards. Her works have been chosen as Silver Birch and Red Maple Award Honour Books, and garnered other readers’ choice award nominations including the MYRCA, the Hackmatack, and the Saskatchewan Willows. Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, she now lives in Miramichi, New Brunswick.

Reviews

“… towards the end I was hit with a message so powerful, I went back and read it again. It was then I realized that the message had been there the whole book. It was everything I think a book should be and more. Every aspect of this book was incredible, from the cover to the very last page.”
– Ella Breau

“You never know where a bend in the breeze can take you: here or there, away or to. And the bend in the breeze that transports 11-year-old Pascale Chardon to the island of TeJÉ might have done all those things. … whether she’s writing historical fiction like her award-winning The Glory Wind and Rain Shadow, novels in verse like Counting Back from Nine or contemporary stories like Birdspell and Driftwood, Valerie Sherrard always tells of real people who are strong and vulnerable, confused and steadfast, and living with circumstances with which young readers can often relate.”

– Helen Kubiw

“The narrative is gentle and well-written. There are a number of interesting topics to discuss: survival, education, community, mythology, empathy, marriage, death, friendship, envy, mindfulness, love, peace, conflict, honesty, and prophecy. Pascale leaves readers of A Bend in the Breeze with several strong messages about our society … Highly Recommended.”
– Myra Junyk

Awards

Mrs. Dunster’s Award for Fiction – New Brunswick Book Awards 2023, Short-listed

Reader Reviews

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