I am delighted to share my review today for The Islanders by Caroline Mitchell. I have read a few of this author’s books and I do adore her writing. This one is fabulous and I came across it on Kindle Unlimited.
She thinks the island will keep her safe—she is wrong.
Traumatised by the death of a child in her care, top London paediatrician Claire seeks refuge on remote Selkie Island in the wilds of the Irish Sea with her husband Daniel and their baby daughter Kitty. Hidden away in Daniel’s old family home, Claire hopes to be as cut off from her guilt as she is from the mainland, but can she find peace in a place so full of its own secrets?
Twenty years earlier, Daniel’s parents left the island in a boat and never made it to the mainland. Mystery surrounds their deaths—and their lives. Why did they set out late at night in a storm? What had really been going on at the house? Even as Claire begins to recover her sense of self amid the island’s rugged beauty, she can’t shake off a chilling suspicion that Selkie Island has a dark history that the locals just can’t face—and that it somehow has a connection to her own life.
When baby Kitty suddenly disappears, Claire’s fragile world falls apart. The only way to secure her future is to uncover the past, but the closer she gets to answers, the more danger she finds herself in. Will she be able to save her family or will the island’s dark secrets take another life?
MY REVIEW
This is a brilliant book with a heartbreaking theme. I won’t dwell on that too much for fear of ruining the main plot. The synopsis does, however, give a great overview of what you are in for, but that is just the tip of the iceberg!
Claire and Daniel have decided that she needs space to heal after the birth of her daughter and also to get over the death of her sister’s baby. Traumatised and struggling with the guilt and loss they return to Selkie Island, the home of Daniels family.
The Island is remote, the community looks after its own and they are wary of newcomers or strangers. Daniel is reluctant to speak about his family history, but something is hanging over their large house. The house was used for helping women who would have gone to prison for their crimes, but with the help of Daniel’s parents, they were looked after. They were killed during a trip to the mainland.
This is one of those stories that grabbed me, there was more than one storyline, and by the end of the book things wrapped up with more surprises than I realised there would be. The way the author has created an atmosphere around the house and the island was brilliant, there are some curmudgeonly characters in the book and these add to the atmosphere and eerie feel to it.
The plots of the story are complex, but the way it was laid out made for great reading. The author successfully wove them and at no point did I feel confused, instead I became more and more involved. There is a mystery to the house and those that live there and also others on the island. There is an anonymous character and this one adds a different aspect to the story, while he has reasons for his actions there is something about them that doesn’t sit right, suspicious, mysterious and with an element of danger.
I adored the way this book played out, it was addictive and the feel of danger and of something going on deeper than I first realised. If you are looking for a book that is full of intrigue, and mystery and has a psychological thread woven through it, then this is a book for you. It is one I would definitely recommend.
Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx
