Gone to Drift

2018 Longlist

Truth? Respect? Survival? Gone to Drift tells the story of Lloyd, a 12-year-old Jamaican boy and his search for his beloved grandfather, Maas Conrad, a fisherman who is lost at sea. Lloyd suspects that his grandfather has witnessed an illegal capture of dolphins for the tourist trade and that he has been hurt, perhaps even killed. No one wants to help Lloyd except for an uptown girl who studies dolphins, his best friend Dwight and a mad man called Slowly on a sun-baked beach.

Interspersed with Lloyd’s quest on land and sea is a second voice – of Maas Conrad himself, who, unknown to Lloyd is alive but marooned on a rock. In this exciting adventure story Lloyd discovers that the enemies of his grandfather – and of the Caribbean Sea that he loves – are closer to home than he could ever imagine.

About the author

Diana McCaulay is an award-winning Jamaican writer and campaigning environmentalist and life-long resident of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital city. Gone to Drift is her first novel for Young Adults but she has written two acclaimed novels, Dog-Heart (2010) and Huracan (2012), both published by Peepal Tree Press. Both these novels were placed in international literary awards. She also won the Hollick Arvon Prize for Caribbean writing in 2014 for her forthcoming memoir Loving Jamaica: a Memoir of Place and (Not) Belonging.

Diana founded the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) in 1991 and still serves as its CEO and guiding force. Her writing contains an authenticity derived from her participation at many levels of Jamaican society. Born into the Jamaican upper-middle class, she has spent her life pounding questions of race, class, colour and privilege.

(from publisher)

Librarian’s comments

Life gets tough for Lloyd who was determined to find his grandfather who has gone missing at sea. No one will help except for a girl who studies dolphins, his best friend Dwight and – just perhaps – a madman called Slowly on a sun-baked beach. Gone to Drift is a riveting adventure in which Lloyd discovers that the enemies of his grandfather – and of the Caribbean Sea that he loves – are closer to home than he could ever imagine.