Jill Vedebrand's Books

The Nagasaki Pearls

By: Jill Vedebrand

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The Nagasaki Pearls is the dramatic and intimate story of three families from Japan, Sweden, and Brazil, who cross the seas on a voyage that they hope will lead them to the lost pearls of the Takahashi family. Years ago, when Leif from Sweden and Georgio from Brazil were young sailors, they rescued a Japanese sea captain from a shipwreck and he gave them a precious set of pearls before he died. Without knowing their significance, they sold them, and the money completely transformed their lives. Now, twenty years later, Taru Takahashi is determined to get his family’s heirloom pearls back. The pearls have been in his family for centuries and should never have been sold. He begins his search by travelling to Rio de Janeiro with Mariko, his seventeen-year-old granddaughter,to find Georgio, one of the two sailors who were given the pearls. On the other side of the world in Sweden, Leif and Ella, their fifteen-year-old daughter, Helen, and nineteen-year-old son, Jörgen, are drawn into the search, at a time when their own lives are in turmoil. When the families unite in the quest for the pearls, no one knows, or even suspects, how their journey will end. Comments From The Readers: "The Nagasaki Pearls by Jill Vedebrand is a very, very good read. I was kept involved and excited from the beginning to the end." by: Rosemary Boyle. Largs. Ayrshire. Scotland. "I love the feeling of the characters in The Nagasaki Pearls, who are real people and concerned about real things, relationships, jobs. The characters pull you in to the story because you know how they feel, because you would feel the way that they feel. I felt that I knew these people. I loved it." by: Sharon Compton, Santa Monica CA

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Page Count

262

Publisher

Trafford Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1426977727

ISBN 13

9781426977725

Travels with My Sea Captain

By: Jill Vedebrand

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Travels with My Sea Captain

By: Jill Vedebrand

FROM HOLLYWOOD TO THE HIGH SEAS A chance encounter in Los Angeles airport with a Swedish Sea Captain and Jill left the movie business and was swept out to sea. From the glamour of Hollywood to life on board a rough cargo ship to playing Mother Goose on a remote Scottish farm, TRAVELS WITH MY SEA CAPTAIN is full of stories about the Captain and his international crew of characters, the many ports as Jill found herself travelling all over the world, life in the glen and how love can really change everything. REVIEWS: Travels With My Sea Captain by Jill Vedebrand A warm, humorous account of one woman's tempestuous affair and marriage to a fiery Swedish sea captain. After meeting by chance in Los Angeles airport, Jill and Tomas fell in love and she decided to join him on some of his voyages to exotic locations including Japan, Singapore, Cuba, South America, India and Russia. There is no shortage of drama as she paints a vivid picture of months spent aboard a ship where she was often the only female. At times resented by the crew, she also often adopted the role of agony aunt and compassionately recounts the hardship endured by men who can spend several years away from their families. There are stories of drunken cooks, surly engineers, brutal fights, macho wrestling competitions, and frantic shore searches for men who had gone missing in the local brothels. The physical aspect of being on board ship also poses problems as she struggles to adapt to the confined spaces, isolation of the open ocean and the violent weather they encounter. The often stunning and sometimes frightening places she visited during her time at sea are colourfully portrayed and she has a knack for bringing to life the sights, smells and atmosphere. Intertwined with the tales of her sea voyages are stories of Jill and Tomas' home life in rural Scotland. They buy a farm and there are accounts of their battles to restore the property and about their menagerie of ducks and pets. In these parts the story reminded me a little of James Herriot or Lillian Beckwith's stories about life in the Hebrides and I think it would have great appeal to these markets. Part travelogue, part humorous account of life in the wilds of Scotland, this is an engaging, romantic, very human story. SENIOR EDITOR

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Page Count

310

Publisher

Trafford Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1412020913

ISBN 13

9781412020916

Two Sailors

By: Jill Vedebrand

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Two Sailors

By: Jill Vedebrand

Two young men from opposite sides of the world are dreaming to escape from their life at home and to become sailors. In the tropics, Georgio runs away and becomes trapped on a tuna fishing vessel bound for West Africa. In the frozen north, Leif finds work on a passenger cargo liner. They meet in a dramatic shipwreck, as one rescues the other, but their friendship brings conflict ashore as wellas at sea. Leifs obsession with an old cargo sailing boat leads them both into a deadly adventure of murder and betrayal and their courage and skills are tested to the extreme. The story is fiction. The historical background, the ships and their operations are based on fact. Not suitable for children under 12; book is for young adult or general readership. Story begins when characters are 14 and 16 and continues over the next 6 years of their lives. Reviews Adventures on the high seas, sailing ships across vast oceans, visiting colourful places as poles apart as Scandinavian glaciers and Amazonian jungles are all excitingly found within the covers of Jill Vedebrand's wonderful book, Two Sailors. Set in the late 1950s, this nautical tale is gripping from the very start and tells how, through fate and circumstance, two boys bedome best friends. The two sailors in question, Georgio, a 14-year-old Brazilian boy, and Leif, a 16-year-old Swedish boy, have apparently more than poor backgrounds and hard working families in common. They both have an irrepressible dream of escaping to the sea and this dream will one day bring them together from opposite sides of the equator. In a town just south of the stifling heat of Rio de Janeiro, Georgio knows that the only way of escaping a five year stint as an apprentice in a sweatshop is to run away. He heads to the docks and becomes a stowaway on what turns out to be a Japanese fishing vessel bound for West Africa. Meanwhile, on a remote frozen wasteland of a farm in Sweden, Leif longs for spring to arrive and imagines that becoming a sailor would lead to a full, rather than dull, experience. For over two years, each has their own enthralling adventure and gains valuable experience at sea. Leif, on a passenger cargo ship bound for Argentina, and Georgio, as one of the crew on the Japanese fishing boat. Then tragedy strikes and, off the South American Coast, Leif is able to save Georgio's life. This dramatic sea rescue brings them both together, not as boys, but as young men. From then on, through love, jealousy, hate and rivalry, they lead each other into both adventure and danger. A terrifying journey across the Atlantic Ocean calls for them to make use of their hard-earned sea faring skills. However, even that experience, could not prepare them for the uncharted depths of the Amazon River where hidden perils await. Jill Vedebrand is no stranger to the sea and this is so evident from her clear, informed, and compelling writing. Her storytelling sweeps you along, from the vivid mind pictures of the frozen snow-laden lakes of Scandinavia, to the humidity of the tropics. Life at sea is brilliantly evoked and the descriptive, emotive writing lifts this tale so that you can actually see, smell and feel the ship and the ocean around you. After a bit of an adventure? I bet you can't put this one down. Janice Horton for Dumfries and Galloway Standard, May 14, 2004 'A brilliant boy's novel (and girls will not be bored by any means). I love it! Emotions are very well depicted in this fast moving teenage and young person adventure story. Jill Vedebrand presents her memorable characters in a vast array of scenes and moods." Kate Stanforth, B.A., Dip. Ed., English Teacher

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Page Count

294

Publisher

Trafford Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1412220955

ISBN 13

9781412220958

Travels with My Sea Captain

By: Jill Vedebrand

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Travels with My Sea Captain

By: Jill Vedebrand

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

310

Publisher

Trafford Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1412020913

ISBN 13

9781412020916

Book's by Jill Vedebrand

The Nagasaki Pearls

The Nagasaki Pearls

Travels with My Sea Captain

Travels with My Sea Captain

Two Sailors

Two Sailors

Travels with My Sea Captain

Travels with My Sea Captain

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