Young orphan Maia embarks on an Amazon adventure with her stern governess, Miss Minton. Expecting a warm family, she instead encounters a hostile aunt and uncle. Amidst the jungle's beauty, Maia uncovers a mystery involving a young Indian boy, a homesick actor, and a missing inheritance. Will she find the adventure she craves or be ensnared by the secrets of the rainforest?
With the memorable characters and plot twists she brings to her best-selling fantasies, acclaimed author Eva Ibbotson has written a hair-raising novel, set in turn-of-the-last-century Brazil. Accompanied by Miss Minton, a fierce-looking, no-nonsense governess, Maia, a young orphan, sets off for the wilderness of the Amazon, expecting curtains of orchids, brightly colored macaws, and a loving family. But what she finds is an evil-tempered aunt and uncle and their spoiled daughters. It is only when she is swept up in a mystery involving a young Indian boy, a homesick child actor, and a missing inheritance that Maia lands in the middle of the Amazon adventure she’s dreamed of. Readers of every generation will treasure Ibbotson’s lush historical adventure that harkens back to the beloved classics of Frances Hodgson Burnett and Louisa May Alcott.
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