Aisha's review:

I loved reading “Diver’s Daughter” as it was a fictional story set in Tudor England. It was engaging and insightful as it is told in first person by the protagonist, Eve. To me Eve is the most interesting character because of her relationship with her mother and how they care for one another and encourage each other during hard times. I learnt how people of different races were treated during that time and how the segregation affected their lives. Most people looked down upon them and they did not have rights. I liked how the story was set in the Tudor era as it teaches me about the past and it is interesting to explore this unusual setting. Also, being set in a different era affects my view as the reader, from the modern era, who sees everything from the eyes of a Tudor. It was quite different back then, for example how people dressed, what they ate, and what did they do for fun. This book was thought-provoking as it always left me thinking about what happens next and it attracts my attention as I travel with the character throughout the book. I would recommend this book to my classmates as it is gripping and teaches us a lot about the past.

Damian's review:

I really enjoyed this book because it told me about a different side to Tudor London which I didn’t really know anything about. It was surprising because the diver was the mum and at first I thought the diver would be her dad. I found Jacques Francis the most interesting character because he had been a diver on the Mary Rose and then had to go and work for a pharmacist. Even though he had a highly skilled job he was still afraid of how people might turn him back into being a slave. I didn’t like the Portuguese slave trader because he ignored the laws for money. I learned that Portugal was involved in slavery and they tried to sell slaves in Britain even though it was against the law. What was interesting was that it looked at people who are difficult to find out about – poorer ordinary people and black Tudors. I thought the plot was really exciting and full of tension, especially at the end of the story. I was really worried because I thought Mama was going to be taken away or might even drown. It was thought provoking about what life must have been like for black people living in Tudor times. What most stood out was the way the water scenes were described. I would thoroughly recommend this book to other students because it is easy to read and has a lot of tension and drama. I didn’t learn a lot of new words but I found out a lot about medicine in Tudor times and what life was like for poor people in England and especially for black people as there weren’t many of them living in England at the time.

Emmeline's review:

Diver’s Daughter is about a young black girl Eve and her mother who are very poor and live in 16th Century London. One day Eve falls off a boat on The River Thames but luckily her mother dives in to rescue her. Her mother’s swimming is so admired by a man on the boat called George that he tells her that there is a special place he can take them to where she could dive deep to find the hidden treasure of a sunken ship. Eve and her mother set off on an adventure to find out more, including a search for a famous African free-diver. Can George be trusted?

In my opinion, this book is very intriguing and it reminded me that people were treated differently in the past because of the colour of their skin. Diver’s Daughter is an exciting story set in Tudor Times and I thought it was a real page turner! Patrice Lawrence has created a story of a mother daughter that comes alive with love, hope and courage. I would recommend this book to children eight and over.

Isobel's review:

I was intrigued by this book because the theme of the story was diving, which was unusual for a historical book, and there were lots of scary and adventurous parts to it. My favourite character was Eve, because she had a warmhearted personality and learned to have more courage as the story went on. I also enjoyed the fact that she wasn’t very fond of men, and was always stubborn when she spoke to them. That was a funny part of the book. But I also liked reading about Gina, an acrobat with stars stitched onto her dress, because she was kind and helped a lot along the way.

I learned about the Mary Rose from this book. There were lots of ships and shipwrecks in Tudor times, and many men drowned. I also didn’t know before that there were people in the olden days who dived down to shipwrecks to get the treasures, even though they didn’t have any equipment. I enjoyed learning about how they did it. The story was exciting and light-hearted. I would recommend it as I am sure it will be very interesting to other children. It made learning about that time really fun. I would give it 9/10. It only wasn’t absolutely perfect because it was too short!