Forgotten villages
I read a book recently set in the same part of the world where time moved forward for the rest of the nation and these islands got left behind. Times were very hard and starvation was normal until the islands were abandoned. In stories like this the setting becomes as big a character as the protagonists and a good setting leads to a great story. I am not a big romance novel fan but the time period and destination of this book does draw me in with great interest.