If I find a more beautifully written novel than ‘The Lost Lights of St Kilda’ this year, then I’ll be a very lucky lady!
It’s 1927, and Cambridge university student Fred and his friend Archie arrive on St Kilda. Both are there to study, with Fred researching underlying rock formations in order to complete his finals. St Kilda, is a small island out in the Atlantic, a hundred miles from the mainland, and the most remote place in the British Isles, but far from finding the isolation too much, Fred loves it’s wild and windswept beauty, and the thought of having to leave at the end of the summer makes him feel really sad. However, there’s an even more pressing reason why he doesn’t want to leave, he’s fallen in love with 19 year old islander Chrissie Gillies. Both Fred and Archie will have reason to remember Chrissie in the years that follow, but for very different reasons.
The storyline follows Chrissie, Fred, and Archie throughout the intervening years, right through the Second World War, where Fred is serving with the Cameron Highlanders. His numerous escapes from captivity are told without fanfare, but the hazardous journey he makes through occupied France and over the mountains into Spain, hoping to make it back to Blighty, make for a tense, and at times, heart stopping addition to the narrative.
Though Fred hasn’t seen or heard from Chrissie for many years, its the images of her and the idyllic times they shared, that keep him going through his captivity and the brutality he suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Archie too, thinks often of Chrissie, as he carries secrets yet to be revealed, that prove ever more burdensome as the years roll by.
Now, far away from her beloved St Kilda, Chrissie thinks longingly of Fred, but neither knows where the other is. Will Fred survive the war? Will Chrissie ever get to say the things she should have said all those years ago?
Wow! The descriptions of St Kilda are nothing short of stunning, but the wild and natural beauty belies the fact that this was a community that was dying, and by 1930 after many years of struggle, and deprivation, Chrissie and the remaining islanders were evacuated. (Though the characters are fictional, this was a real historical event and is well documented). The intimate and exquisitely written detail of the evacuation is hard to read, and left me with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.
This is a stunning novel - the characters are wonderful, the storyline mesmerising, and be assured, if you choose to read ‘The Lost Lights of St Kilda’, you’re in for a very special read! I won’t forget this one in a hurry.
It’s 1927, and Cambridge university student Fred and his friend Archie arrive on St Kilda. Both are there to study, with Fred researching underlying rock formations in order to complete his finals. St Kilda, is a small island out in the Atlantic, a hundred miles from the mainland, and the most remote place in the British Isles, but far from finding the isolation too much, Fred loves it’s wild and windswept beauty, and the thought of having to leave at the end of the summer makes him feel really sad. However, there’s an even more pressing reason why he doesn’t want to leave, he’s fallen in love with 19 year old islander Chrissie Gillies. Both Fred and Archie will have reason to remember Chrissie in the years that follow, but for very different reasons.
The storyline follows Chrissie, Fred, and Archie throughout the intervening years, right through the Second World War, where Fred is serving with the Cameron Highlanders. His numerous escapes from captivity are told without fanfare, but the hazardous journey he makes through occupied France and over the mountains into Spain, hoping to make it back to Blighty, make for a tense, and at times, heart stopping addition to the narrative.
Though Fred hasn’t seen or heard from Chrissie for many years, its the images of her and the idyllic times they shared, that keep him going through his captivity and the brutality he suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Archie too, thinks often of Chrissie, as he carries secrets yet to be revealed, that prove ever more burdensome as the years roll by.
Now, far away from her beloved St Kilda, Chrissie thinks longingly of Fred, but neither knows where the other is. Will Fred survive the war? Will Chrissie ever get to say the things she should have said all those years ago?
Wow! The descriptions of St Kilda are nothing short of stunning, but the wild and natural beauty belies the fact that this was a community that was dying, and by 1930 after many years of struggle, and deprivation, Chrissie and the remaining islanders were evacuated. (Though the characters are fictional, this was a real historical event and is well documented). The intimate and exquisitely written detail of the evacuation is hard to read, and left me with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.
This is a stunning novel - the characters are wonderful, the storyline mesmerising, and be assured, if you choose to read ‘The Lost Lights of St Kilda’, you’re in for a very special read! I won’t forget this one in a hurry.