Island of Wings

By Karin Altenberg

Book Overview

A dazzling debut novel of love and loss, faith and atonement, on an untamed nineteenth-century Scottish island. Exquisitely written and profoundly moving, Island of Wings is a richly imagined novel about two people struggling to keep their love, and their family, alive in a place of extreme hardship and unearthly beauty. Everything lies ahead for Lizzie and Neil McKenzie when they arrive at the St. Kilda islands in July of 1830. Neil is to become the minister to the small community of islanders, and Lizzie-bright, beautiful, and devoted-is pregnant with their first child. As the two adjust to life at the edge of civilization, where the natives live in squalor and babies perish mysteriously, their marriage-and their sanity-are soon threatened.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143120662
• ISBN13: 9780143120667
• Release Date: December 2011
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Not a go-to book

I have to say I was disappointed in Island of Wings. There was just no joy to be found in these pages. The main character, Lizzie, seems to be the only redeemable character in the whole story, and even she can't bring any light to this dark novel.