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Shelter Island: A January Hoolihan and Crisscross Adventure
“A middle schooler and her best friend spend a summer full of surprises and misadventures in Wisoff’s 1990s-set debut novel . . . Superlative characters headline a somber, quietly riveting story of friendship and family.” – Kirkus Reviews
After her punk rock father's overdose and her 7th grade graduation, newly orphaned January Hoolihan is to be dumped on a scary old man who knows nothing of her existence when she's hijacked from her East Village tenement to the Island where he lives. But gal pal Crisscross, a little kid from the nabe obsessed with hounds and pirates, shadows January. And in her wake? A heap of trouble!
They are two girls with secrets. One of which may drag the younger back to the old nabe and separate them forever.
January scribbles about the dog days that follow in her 8th grade “What I Did Over My Summer Break” assignment at her new Island school.
Encompassing the ongoing, turbulent, Tompkins Square protests of the early 1990s, Shelter Island touches on mature themes including child exploitation and neglect, AIDS, and parental drug abuse’s impact on kids. But it's also about new friendships forged on land and sea, an eccentric maritime family, and the power of unconditional love.
This is Book One of the What I Did Over My Summer Break series.
After her punk rock father's overdose and her 7th grade graduation, newly orphaned January Hoolihan is to be dumped on a scary old man who knows nothing of her existence when she's hijacked from her East Village tenement to the Island where he lives. But gal pal Crisscross, a little kid from the nabe obsessed with hounds and pirates, shadows January. And in her wake? A heap of trouble!
They are two girls with secrets. One of which may drag the younger back to the old nabe and separate them forever.
January scribbles about the dog days that follow in her 8th grade “What I Did Over My Summer Break” assignment at her new Island school.
Encompassing the ongoing, turbulent, Tompkins Square protests of the early 1990s, Shelter Island touches on mature themes including child exploitation and neglect, AIDS, and parental drug abuse’s impact on kids. But it's also about new friendships forged on land and sea, an eccentric maritime family, and the power of unconditional love.
This is Book One of the What I Did Over My Summer Break series.
334 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 4, 2026
About the author
Jill Wisoff
2 books10 followersJill Wisoff is a songwriter, screenwriter, and actress, and a graduate of Bennington College and the New School MFA program in Writing: Fiction. She composed score and songs for the Sundance award-winning film Welcome to the Dollhouse.
You may have seen her as Johnny Thunders' bassist touring with the Oddballs in Europe, the Midwest, and Canada; or starring opposite Todd Solondz in his first film Fear Anxiety & Depression.
Shelter Island, her debut novel, and its sequel, are inspired by the lives of musicians and their families she's known, particularly from the original East Village punk scene. These will be followed by a paranormal novel to be published in the fall of 2026.
You may have seen her as Johnny Thunders' bassist touring with the Oddballs in Europe, the Midwest, and Canada; or starring opposite Todd Solondz in his first film Fear Anxiety & Depression.
Shelter Island, her debut novel, and its sequel, are inspired by the lives of musicians and their families she's known, particularly from the original East Village punk scene. These will be followed by a paranormal novel to be published in the fall of 2026.
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