View source for Finding Fortune by Pippa Goodhart

{{infobox1
|title=Finding Fortune
|author=Pippa Goodhart
|reviewer=Robert James
|genre=Confident Readers
|rating=3.5
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Maybe
|isbn=978-1846471599
|pages=280
|publisher=Catnip Publishing
|date=April 2013
|website=http://www.pippagoodhart.co.uk
|summary=Weak characters and dialogue but a good plot and a well-imagined setting in the Gold Rush make this one hit and miss. Worth checking out if you have an interest in the time period.
|cover=1846471591
|aznuk=1846471591
|aznus=1846471591
}}
After Ida's mother's death, Grandmama makes plans to separate her from her father and send her to boarding school. When Fa decides to travel to the Klondike to seek gold, though, Ida can't bear to be away from him and steals away to join him. How will the pair survive, and can they find their fortune together?

I struggled to get into this one because the dialogue seems incredibly stilted - I'm assuming that Pippa Goodhart was going for historical accuracy, but it seems to be somewhat wide of the mark to me -  I can't believe anyone ever talked in the way that Ida's Grandmama and Fa do for much of the early part of the book. Coupled with the ridiculous naivety shown by Fa - who I was starting to think was actively trying to break a record for the 'most often conned person in history', meaning it becomes increasingly hard to sympathise with him when he gets ripped off yet again - this stopped me from enjoying the first half too much. 

Having said that, I'm not sure whether the dialogue improved in the second half or whether I just got attuned to it more, but I enjoyed the last part. It seems well-researched and Goodhart brings the setting of the Klondike to life far more successfully than she does her characters. I also thought the plot was good, and I really enjoyed the ending which was sweet and touching, and Ida's character development throughout the book is reasonably good even if the supporting characters leave a fair bit to be desired.   

Probably not quite recommended generally on balance, but worth a look if you particularly enjoy historical fiction and I may well try more by Goodhart in the future.

[[Slave Girl by Jackie French]] is an excellent piece of historical fiction for younger readers.  You might also enjoy [[Dragon Magic (Red Bananas) by Pippa Goodhart and Lesley Danson]].

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