The Schooner in a Bottle

By Mrs Mary Collingwood Hurst

Summer is a fourteen-year-old girl who is, like so many of today's young people, suffering from the after effects of the COVID-19 lockdown, peer pressure and the invasion and bullying of social media. This does not give them the chance to live life in the real world other than third hand through technology.

Summer is transported to the world hidden in an old whisky bottle crafted by a sailor from the 1800s.

She visits a Gaelic mystic island called 'Ailean na Firinn', or The Island of Truth, just as her grandmother did. There she meets Muffidy the Selkie, a charismatic shapeshifter who is half man and half seal. Together they set off on an adventure of discovery to a mystic Nordic island in the Arctic known as 'The Island of Belief'.

They travel with several different characters on the Schooner, fight many battles and encounter many dangers on the way.

Summer learns gradually that she can live without all the social media and troubles that seem insurmountable and that she has an inner strength to cope with the most unlikely situations.

The idea was built around the words written by my granddaughter when she was only eight:

Who cares if we're different?
We all shine bright like a star
That's all that matters
Even if we're UNIQUE
We all shine.
Everyone does.

The Schooner in a Bottle is a followup to The Island in a Bottle.

I hope this book will bring comfort and hope to all people going through a difficult time.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CKTFRJN3
• ISBN13: 9798863801605
• Release Date: October 2023
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 130 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"