Journey to the river sea is an adventure novel written by eva ibbotson published by macmillan in 2001it is set mainly in manaus brazil early in the 20th century and conveys the authors vision of the amazon river it was a finalist for all of the major british childrens literary awards winning the smarties prize ages 9 11 and garnering an unusual commendation as runner up for the . Journey to the river sea this book is set in 1910 and maia orphaned at thirteen has been sent from england to start a new life with distant relatives in manaus hundreds of miles up the amazon. Journey to the river sea is just the kind of book i loved reading as a child it is set in the late 19th century ive always enjoyed those books more than the ones set in more recent times and is an adventure story with strong female characters and intelligent kids. For the historical novel journey to the river sea she won the smarties prize in category 9 11 years garnered unusual commendation as runner up for the guardian prize and made the carnegie whitbread and blue peter shortlists she was a finalist for the 2010 guardian prize at the time of her death