‘Escape Under the Forever Sky’ and ‘Escape by Sea’

Two recent novels take the term “escape literature” literally. In both adventures, a strong protagonist caught up in a life-threatening situation proves her courage and quick wit.

“Escape Under the Forever Sky” begins with 13-year-old Lucy rejoicing at the sight of a large troop of Gelada baboons stampeding in the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia. The stampede, however, is only in her dreams. As the daughter of the American ambassador to Ethiopia, Lucy lives within the embassy compound and is driven to school in a bullet-proof car.

She yearns to escape the constant security and actually see Africa: the marketplace, the bush, and above all the wildlife. Passionate about animals, Lucy studies the work of Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey and plans to become an animal behaviorist herself. When she does manage to slip away, however, she makes a mistake and is kidnapped. She doesn’t know where she’s been taken or why, but Lucy doesn’t wait around to find out. She uses her wits to escape from her captors and sets out walking across the wilds of Ethiopia.

Lucy narrates her adventure in a fresh, slightly wry voice. Her wide reading about Ethiopian landscape and wildlife gives her the knowledge to survive on her own for three days despite hunger and thirst, wild animals, and the fierce sun. She eludes the kidnappers who pursue her, figures out where she is, and treks toward safety under the “forever” African sky.

For 15-year-old Sara, “Escape by Sea” is the only option when Roman troops attack her native Carthage, roughly 200 years B.C. Sara and her father flee the doomed city aboard one of her father’s merchant ships, the Heron. As they sail the Mediterranean they face storms and battles, pirates, mercenaries and Roman ships.

Sara is a compelling character. Although raised in wealth and privilege, she has many survival skills, not the least of which is her ability to make sound decisions after her father is killed. The role of women may be tightly limited in her time and place, but the now-orphaned teenage girl quickly earns the loyalty of several men around her and takes charge of her own life.