The Island Child

A spellbinding, deeply felt debut novel–soaring and poignant–about passion, freedom, motherhood, and the power to shape our destinies.

Oona grew up on the island of Inis: a wind-blasted rock off the coast of Ireland where the men went out on fishing boats and the women tended turf fires; where the only book was the Bible; and where girls stayed at home until they became mothers themselves. The island was a gift for some, a prison for others. Even as a child, Oona knew she wanted to leave, but she never could have anticipated the tumultuous turn of events that would ultimately compel her to flee.

Now, after twenty years–after Oona has forged a new, very different life for herself–her daughter vanishes, forcing Oona to face her past in order, finally, to be free of it.

Heralding a singularly gifted new voice in fiction, The Island Child is a timeless story of birth and betrayal, storms and shipwrecks and fairy children, and the weight of long-buried secrets.