The Voyage of Sam Singh
This middle-grade adventure is the second of Gita Ralleigh’s fantasies set in an alternate India. Land pirate Sam Singh is on a quest to find his brother, Moon, imprisoned in the ‘Octopus’ by colonial occupiers on the Isle of Lost Voices. Sam and his multi-lingual parrot, Suka, get a passage aboard the Yellow Pearl as the servant of the Collector, a grumpy anthropologist who has a dubious interest in the skulls of indigenous peoples’ ancestors. On board ship, Sam is befriended by the Princess of Moonlally and her servant, Sparrow, who turn out to be on a quest of their own. Sam and the Collector are guided into the Isle’s interior to stay with the forest people by Lola, who is learning to be a shaman and communicate with the spirit world. Lola and the Princess help Sam in his quest, but they must defeat prison guards and sea pirates led by the infamous Jalai Rajah.
The pace improves as we move toward an engaging climax with a surprise turn. Sam and the Princess attempt a prison break while Lola attempts the dangerous task of returning the lost souls of the skulls to their rest. Sam’s quest involves themes of brotherhood, friendship across cultural divides, the powerful presence of ancestors, and how rectifying colonial damage is an enduring project.
Ralleigh contrasts a range of indigenous voices – princesses, thieves and shamans – with those of the occupiers – the Governor, the Collector and the prison Superintendent. All of these voices are beautifully differentiated, showing how the world views of conqueror and conquered are unbridgeable without the kind of second sight achieved by the shaman, who can fully enter into the world of the ‘other’ and hear their stories.
