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There is something disturbing about Clary Johnson, and something even more disturbing about his strange, teenage daughter, Ellie, who pushes a pram with a doll in it up and down the dirt road outside an abandoned school while singing a plaintive song. Shane’s father has bought the old, bush school next to Clarry’s neglected orchard. It is an eerie, lonely place and and it has an ominous,secret history that only Shane’s dog, Caddy, can unearth.

PORT DOUGLAS AUTHOR CREATES A PIRATY TIME-WARP Port Douglas based author, Alan Horsfield, has written over 35 children’s books and his latest is a pirate time-warp adventure based in the South Pacific.Mr Horsfield said he hasn’t stopped writing for over 40 years, writing 100s of educational texts for schools before moving on to children’s fiction.“It's in my blood. I've retired but I refuse to play bingo or golf, so I continue writing and I get a buzz out of publishing a book,” he said.Mr Horsfield said because he had a long career as a school teacher before writing he tends to write books that will challenge children intellectually.“I make children use their imagination and their logic, so they feel satisfied at the end of it. “I also enjoy playing with words, so I put a little bit of wordplay in my books, it adds another level to the story,” he said.His latest book is called Pirates of Tahiti: A tale of two ships and was released late last year featuring the illustrations of former Port Douglas women, Nancy Bevington.The book follows a modern-day young boy in Tahiti who is suddenly trapped in another time where pirates are prevalent. The boy is then kidnapped and put on a pirate ship.“The story is what I call a time warp story, not science fiction and not fantasy, a wrinkle in time,” Mr Horsfield said.“The book is loosely based on a true event where pirates did come to Tahiti on an old ship and had to take harbour and find a new ship.“Missionaries there had a new ship and the pirates were going to raid it and take over because it was much more seaworthy and that's why it's called a tale of two ships,” he said. Mr Horsfield said he was inspired to write this story after travelling to Tahiti and sailing around the islands on a ship.“In Tahiti, we went to a cafe and there are pirate mannequins sitting in the back of the dining area and I thought well there's the start of a story.“The thing that got me was that all pirate stories are usually written around the Caribbean and it hit me that there were are also pirates around Tahiti,” Mr Horsfield said.The book is aimed at the 11 to 13-year-old age group and is for sale at the Port Douglas Markets every Sunday. KARLIE BRADY – JOURNALIST, NEWSPORT

Pirates of Tahiti: A Tale of Two Ships Alan Horsfield (text), and Nancy Bevington (illustrator), Pirates of Tahiti: A Tale of Two Ships, EJH Talent Promotion, November 2019, RRP $12.95 Alan Horsfield’s new time-warp novel is inspired by his own trips to Tahiti as well as actual historical events. Hawkins Botright is about to board The Seabreeze for a leisurely cruise of the Tahitian islands with his family when without warning he is transported back to a time when pirates plundered Spanish towns of the South American West Coast taking refuge in Tahiti. How did he get here? Why is he here? And more importantly, will he escape with his life?As one might expect from a fact based book about pirates there are a few scenes involving violence (including weaponry) and drunkenness (though probably very tame versions of actual events) that might make it unsuitable for some children (or better suited as a read aloud rather than a read alone). There is also some rather challenging vocabulary for the intended middle grade audience. The story does however offer readers an extremely well researched glimpse into a place and time so far removed from our modern world. This book will appeal to children-middle grade and older- with a particular interest in pirates and history. But any child with a thirst for adventure could enjoy the twists and turns of the plot as well as the many colourful characters they meet along the way.Small black and white illustrations and a few photographs break up the text nicely. There is also a glossary of nautical terms and an illustrated guide to some of the sailing ships mentioned in the story.Reviewed by Deborah Kelly