Award-winning historian Alice Albinia takes readers on a journey across oceans and centuries, uncovering the secrets of 20 fascinating islands—each vividly brought to life through firsthand stories and illustrated maps
Travel across oceans and through time with award-winning historian and storyteller Alice Albinia in her first children’s book, Once Upon an Island.
Discover 20 wondrous islands—from the icy, windswept cliffs of Baffin Island, where Inuit knowledge has sustained communities for generations, to the volcanic peaks of Hawai’i. This captivating journey reveals islands as places of wonder and warning, rich with histories that have shaped the world far beyond their shores.
Perfect for curious explorers, map lovers, and anyone enchanted by the magic of faraway places, Once Upon an Island is an unforgettable voyage through geography, history, and story.
Featuring first person narratives and read-aloud maps, all brought to life with beautiful illustrations by Helen Cann.
Alice Albinia read English Literature at Cambridge University. After graduating, she moved to Delhi, where she worked for the next two a half years as a journalist and editor for the Centre for Science & Environment, Biblio: A Review of Books, Outlook Traveller, and several other Indian newspapers and magazines.
It was during this time, as she travelled around the country writing articles and features, that she had the idea to write a history of the River Indus. In 2002, she moved back to London to take an MA in South Asian history at the School of Oriental and African Studies, where she researched the religious and political history of the Indus region.