Stolen (Christopher novel)

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Stolen
Cover of Stolen
AuthorLucy Christopher
LanguageEnglish
GenreYoung adult fiction
Published2009 The Chicken House
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint
Pages304
Awards
ISBN9781906427139
Followed byFlyaway 

Stolen is the debut novel of author Lucy Christopher. It was published in the UK in 2009 and is the story of Gemma Toombs, a 16-year-old girl who is kidnapped by a 25-year-old man named Ty and taken to the middle of the Great Sandy Desert in the Australian Outback. Subtitled A Letter to My Captor, the book is told in second person narrative as a letter from Gemma to Ty.[1]

Plot[edit]

Whilst at a Bangkok airport, 16-year-old Gemma is kidnapped by 27-year-old Tyler “Ty” MacFarlane from a coffee shop after he drugs her coffee. He smuggles her away on a plane to Australia and takes her to the middle of the desert, expecting her to fall in love with him. Gemma disapproves of Ty, but after an incident she develops a soft corner for him. Ty has a nightmare about his past and shouts and screams until Gemma gets up and consoles him. Still Gemma has not entirely forgiven Ty and tries to escape by taking his vehicle but does not succeed as the truck gets stuck in the desert. Ty rescues her and takes care of her until her burns have healed. Now Gemma has started to think of Ty in a good way and Ty is happy with that. Ty wants her to realize the importance and beauty of nature which was the main reason he built this house in the middle of the desert. For this purpose he paints his entire outhouse and himself with colors that resemble nature. And this does it. That day Ty and Gemma fall asleep outside the house, on the sand itself. Gemma has now started falling for Ty. The next day Ty leaves to collect snakes as their venom is essential for the anti-venom that he is preparing. He leaves a note for Gemma about his whereabouts and Gemma goes in search of Ty behind the house near the water reserve and there a snake bites her. Ty takes Gemma to the mine site/civilization for her treatment after the anti-venom that he had preserved is out of date. Gemma asked Ty to stay with her in the hospital. He is arrested and whilst receiving treatment for her ordeal she is told that any feelings she had for Ty were due to the Stockholm syndrome.[2]

Characters[edit]

  • Gemma Toombs - the 16-year-old protagonist of the novel. Originally from England, she and her parents, with whom she has a strained relationship, are on a trip in Thailand when she is kidnapped by a young man who takes her to one of the most isolated parts of the Outback in Australia.
  • Tyler "Ty" MacFarlane - the 27-year-old man who abducts Gemma. Prior to kidnapping her, Ty had been stalking Gemma for years, and decided that the only way to have her would be to drug her and take her to the middle of the Great Sandy Desert in Australia. There, he expects her to not only fall in love with him, but stay with him forever.

Publishing history[edit]

Stolen was first published in the UK in 2009 by Chicken House. The first American edition was published by Scholastic in 2010. The book has been subsequently translated into French (as Lettre à mon ravisseur, Gallimard, 2010), Dutch (as Brief aan mijn ontvoerder, The House of Books, 2010), Greek (as Apagōgē, Ekdoseis Psychogios, 2010), Danish (as Stjålet: Et brev til min bortfører, Carlsen, 2011), and German (as Ich wünschte, ich könnte dich hassen, Carlsen, 2011)

Reception[edit]

Reviews[edit]

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called Stolen "an emotionally raw", "fast-paced", and "haunting account of captivity and the power of relationships". They referred to "Gemma’s fluctuating emotions" as "entirely believable".[3]

According to Kirkus Reviews, the novel's opening is "compelling", and overall, it "delivers taut suspense and a riveting plot in a haunting setting". They referred to the novel's setting as "beautifully portrayed and deftly mined for subtext and symbolism", but noted that "the novel can’t overcome its central contradiction" that "Ty—respectful of the struggling desert ecosystem from humblest succulent to deadliest snake, perceiving each element as part of a fragile, interconnected web—has kidnapped Gemma, in violation of her human rights and needs, and imprisoned her thousands of miles from home".[4]

On behalf of The Hindu, Janani Ganesan also highlighted the "prize" that is the description of the landscape. They also discussed Christopher's writing style: "The author, Lucy Christopher, succeeds in capturing the story in a one-word title – Stolen. [...] The author does justice to the title, but merely partial justice to the narration. [...] It makes one impatient and irritable at times, to sit through a series of short sentences - feels like a drive through a bumpy road with the brakes being applied every few minutes; the story takes its own time to move. This spurt of short sentences kills the flow of the plot. Granted that fear is conveyed best in brevity. But the power of brief sentences lies in strategic and minimalistic usage".[5]

Booklist also reviewed the novel,[6] as well as the audiobook narrated by Emily Gray.[7]

Awards[edit]

Awards for Stolen
Year Award Result Ref.
2010 Branford Boase Award Winner [8]
2010 Gold Inky Award Winner [9][10]
2010 Hull Children's Book Award Winner [9]
2010 Prime Minister's Literary Awards Shortlist [11][12]
2010 Southern Schools Book Award Winner [13]
2011 Michael L. Printz Award Honor [14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Branford Boase Award nomination for Bath author's debut". BBC News. 25 May 2010. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  2. ^ "Stolen. An award winning thriller by Lucy Christopher". Lucy Christopher. Archived from the original on 7 July 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Stolen by Lucy Christopher". Publishers Weekly. 12 April 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Stolen". Kirkus Reviews. 15 April 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  5. ^ Ganesan, Janani (17 November 2010). "Too long a letter". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 7 July 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Stolen". Booklist. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  7. ^ "Stolen". Booklist. 27 September 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  8. ^ Horn, Caroline (15 July 2010). "Christopher steals Branford Boase". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Author stirs students to storytelling". Berwick Leader. 17 April 2011. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  10. ^ "Stolen, Shiver win the 2010 Inky Awards". Readings. Retrieved 24 May 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ Neilan, Catherine (15 July 2010). "Coetzee and Christopher among shortlistees for PM awards". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  12. ^ "2010 shortlist". Archived from the original on 6 September 2010.
  13. ^ "Lucy Christopher - winner in 2010 with Stolen". Southern Schools Book Awards. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  14. ^ Staino, Rocco (29 June 2011). "ALA Annual 2011: Bacigalupi Drops F-Bomb at Printz Award Ceremony". School Library Journal. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.

External links[edit]

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