When We Get To The Island

by Alex Nye

Hani is 12 and invisible, and yet everyone wants to capture him.

After escaping from Syria with his sister, he finds himself working in atrocious conditions somewhere in Scotland. When his sister disappears, he begins a perilous journey to find her, across some of the wildest terrain in Scotland.

Mia is also on the run, and sometimes it feels as if she will never stop running. When she helps Hani escape from his captors, the two become inseparable. Her dream is to reach the island where she was last happy, when her parents were alive, and find the little house she believes they still own.

Once we reach the island, she tells Hani, everything will be okay.

But their journey takes them into dangerous landscapes, hunted by dangerous men, chased through a system of underground flooded caverns while a great storm sweeps the coast. Whatever happens, Mia knows that she must help Hani to find his sister. What they will really find at the end of their journey may come as a surprise to both of them.

256 pages, Paperback

Published November 21, 2019

About the author

Alex Nye is the author of EVEN THE BIRDS GROW SILENT, and is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at the University of Glasgow. She grew up in Norfolk by the sea, but has lived in Scotland for most of her adult life where she finds much of her inspiration in Scottish history. At the age of 16 she won the W H Smith Young Writers' Award out of 33,000 entrants, and has been writing ever since. Her first children's novel, CHILL, won the Royal Mail Award. Previous titles include FOR MY SINS about Mary Queen of Scots, ARGUING WITH THE DEAD, a novel about the life of Mary Shelley, WHEN WE GET TO THE ISLAND, DARKER ENDS, and the classic Kelpies series CHILL and SHIVER. She divides her time between walking the dog, swimming, scribbling in notebooks in strange places, staring at people without meaning to, and tapping away on her laptop. She also teaches and delivers atmospheric candlelit workshops on creative writing/ghost stories/Scottish history. She studied at King's College, London more years ago than she cares to remember.

Reviews

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Leído en inglés. Reseña en español más abajo]

I bought this book earlier this year when I was in Inverness (Scotland). I wanted something from a local author and I luckily ran into this in a cute local bookstore. I asked the gentleman to recommend me something from there and yes, it was a great choice. I was looking for a light quick-paced novel, hopefully naming some places in the city/country I was visiting, so if you ever go to Scotland, especially to the Highlands, go buy this!

A relatively short book and very easy to read. Most of chapters are quite short so you move on fast. Here we have the story of Hani and Mia, who go rescue Reena, which is Hani's sister. Hani and Mia come from different background but with a mutual issue: loneliness and feeling out of society. They get to know each other and go through several places in Scotland to find Reena. Interesting characters appear on the way. The story is very straightforward and touching at the same time. I really liked the way Nye wrote this.

The only reason I rate it with 4 stars and not 5 is because the last few chapters everything felt non-realistic (unlike the whole rest of the book), especially when it comes to Yusuf and the way it ends. I won't spoil the story because I understand the book is not very popular and relatively new. But overall, a very good story with very well developped protagonists. Totally recommendable.

P.S. When you travel, please buy books from local writers. They are hidden gems!

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Compré este libro a principios de este año cuando estaba en Inverness (Escocia). Quería algo de un escritor local y afortunadamente me encontré con una linda librería local. Le pregunté al dueño de ésta si me podía recomendar algo de allí y sí, me eligió algo genial. Estaba buscando un libro que se leyera rápido y fácil, ojalá con nombres de lugares en la ciudad o el país que estaba visitando, así que si van a Escocia, especialmente a la región de Highlands, compren este libro!

Un libro relativamente corto y muy fácil de leer. La mayoría de los capítulos son bastante cortos así que puede avanzar rápido. Aquí tenemos la historia de Hani y Mia, que van a rescatar a Reena, quien es la hermana de Hani. Hani y Mia vienen de contextos distintos pero tienen un problema en común: la soledad y sentirse fuera de la sociedad. Se conocen y pasan por varios lugares en Esocica para encontrar a Reena. Personajes interesantes aparecen en el camino. La historia es muy directa, pero emocionante a la vez. Me gustó mucho la forma de escribir de Nye.

La única razón por la que le pongo 4 estrellas y no 5 es porque los últimos capítulos no se sintieron muy realistas (al contrario del resto del libro), especialmente cuando se trata de Yusuf y la manera en que termina. No haré "Spoilers" porque entiendo que el libro no es muy popular y es relativamente nuevo. Pero en general, una muy buena historia con protagonistas muy bien desarrollados. Totalmente recomendable.

PD: Cuando viajen, compren libros de escritores locales. Son tesoros escondidos!

[Bookread2day · Rating 5 out of 5]

When We Get To The Island, is a very well written book for ages 11-14. Hans is an exciting character who is 12 and happens to be invisible. From this sentence on I was hooked into this story. Twelve-year-old Hani stood in the semi-dark of an immense shed, miserable, cold, tired. He was always tired, couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t felt exhausted. It’s relevant here that all the characters are fictional, with Hani who escaped from Syria taking him to Scotland. I always love reading how an author Story becomes tumbling out. So what actually inspired Alex Nye is by the tragic events of recent years is the fate of refugees forced to cross an ocean that risk to life to escape danger and persecution. One other reason what Alex Nye looked into was the from the people in Scotland whose stories inspired him much further to write about Hani, the young Syrian refugee. I have to recommend When We Get To The Island as it without question one of those well written stories that delivers.

[Meggy Chocolate'n'Waffles]

What do you think about when you watch the news?

Usually, I think of the food in front of me while looking distractedly at the screen. That screen which is a barrier between my world and what happens everywhere else. When We Get to the Island stripped me of that protection. It put me in the here and now. It forced me to really look. And feel. And wonder when we began to fail those in need. Then I asked the one billion question. Will we ever manage to repair our mistakes and open our eyes?

Hani and his sister Reena have fled Syria. Yes, we hear this story a lot. They ended up in Calais. Touchy point, as I lived twenty minutes from there and was witness of the issues the Jungle caused. Maybe because it was ten years ago, or maybe because the news media tell us how to handle a subject, but I always thought of the Jungle in terms of what it meant for us French living around the area. It was probably a bit of both, with the passive stance of people who have their own problems to solve. I am not writing this and doing a mea culpa. We still act like this. We turn a blind eye. Well, most of us. I am not saying Alex Nye’s book is a big history and moral lesson about how to treat refugees. First and foremost, When We Get to the Island is the story of two children who fight for their survival in a world of adults.

With a simple yet elaborate prose, the author introduces the reader with two very different characters. Hani – refugee, slave, brother, invisible. Mia – orphan, unloved, invisible. Both are running. Hani to find his sister, kidnapped in the night, and Mia to find her island.

Finding each other is only the beginning. Throughout their journey to find Hani’s sister and a safe place, they have to face cruel men who don’t want to lose a illegal child worker they have paid for and the police looking for a young girl. Dangerous situations reinforce their friendship and their connection warmed my heart. In this cold and hard reality, discovering an ally means the world.

Supported by an efficient cast of characters, Hani and Mia reveal themselves. Their fears of adults and the threats they have learned to see everywhere kept reminding me of their stolen childhood. No matter how far they run, some scars don’t disappear. The gang chasing Hani is ruthless and Scotland is beautiful but perilous for two kids on their own.

Alex Nye has put so much humanity in her novel that it is bound to reach you. Current and hot topics served with a pinch of danger, under which is hidden the remains of innocence, this is what you can find between the pages of When We Get to the Island. No judgement, only a hope for safety and love. I was amazed by how the author manages to show that Hani and Mia’s stories are parallel. They have different backgrounds, but they are suffering from the loss of their family and find themselves alone against the universe. They have no say in what happens to them, having to rely on adults to decide on their fate.

I don't often read Young Adult books, but I felt in very good hands with Alex Nye!
This novel is an intense YA experience that is accessible to all.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hani and his sister Reena have escaped war in their homeland of Syria, after their parents paid their life savings to people traffickers in an attempt to give their children a better life.

But Hani and Reena's journey has not been one to the freedom their parents hoped for. Abandoned by the people traffickers in a refugee camp in Calais, they have been recruited by a gang master using the utterly misleading name Uncle Georgio, and are now working illegally under the most atrocious conditions on a remote farm in Scotland.

At least they have each other....until Reena goes missing one night and Hani runs away, vowing to find her.

Mia is also on the run in the wilds of Scotland. After the death of both her parents and grandmother, she has been living with emotionally distant foster parents, who seem to have little genuine interest in her and the fact that she has left behind everything she ever knew. She is desperate to return to the Scottish island that used to be her home - a place where she is convinced she can be safe and happy again.

Mia comes across Hani on her journey and promises to help him find his sister - she assures him that they can all find a home "When we get the island...".

Their journey will be a dark and dangerous one, across the wilds of Scotland, dogged at every turn by the dangerous people smugglers who are keen to keep the truth about their secret business hidden from prying eyes, and from the police who seek to return Mia to social care. But they will also find allies in unexpected places, who wish them well and offer them much needed help along the way.

What will they find at the end of their journey?

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What We Get To The Island is a cracking YA adventure story that beautifully combines the excitement of an old-fashioned romp across the wilds of Scotland with a bang-up-to-date story about three children who have experienced terrible tragedy in their lives.

I really enjoyed the way Alex Nye shows us that the stories of Hani and Mia are essentially the same - both of them suffering from loss and desperate to find home/family, despite their very different backgrounds. Hani and Reena's tale is a heartbreaking one, but the story of Mia is nonetheless also one of tragedy. None of these children has had any say in what has happened to them and they are at the mercy of others who do not really care about them.


As I found from reading Alex Nye's excellent book Arguing With The Dead, where she skillfully tells the story of Mary Shelley in the form of a gothic horror, she has a talent for taking a theme and reworking it in a wholly original way and she has delightfully managed this again here. This time the story of our two children is told in a way that spins their deeply emotional tales of loss in a way that plays out like a classic adventure story. As readers, we are drawn inexorably into the search for Reena, desperate to find her safe and well, and the tension ramps up almost unbearably as the tale unfolds.

Alex Nye acknowledges that John Buchan's wonderful book The Thirty-Nine Steps has inspired her to take the story of Hani and Mia in the direction she has, and this works so well. I found this to be such a nostalgic read, as I loved The Thirty-Nine Steps too, but there are also echoes of other old favourites reworked for the modern age, like Enid Blyton's Famous Five adventures, and I found this very endearing.

This was an interesting one for me to read off the back of Rodaan Al Galidi's fascinating book Two Blankets, Three Sheets, albeit looking at a different aspect of the refugee situation. When We Get To The Island is a book that also has an important message and it is one that is very accessible for both its target audience, and adults too. It is one of those magic books that can be read by both the young and the old, as there are references that will be taken differently depending on your age - especially when it comes to the likely fate of Reena. This is a talent I greatly admire in an author.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading When We Get To The Island and can wholeheartedly recommend this if you are thinking about an easily accessible story for older children, especially one that that you can read along with them, as it tackles many issues around loss, asylum seekers, foster care and bullying as part of the thrilling story. As an ex-secondary school librarian, this is exactly the kind of book I would be adding to my library shelves and championing widely.

[Fee (Ebook Addicts) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in a few hours and found myself totally immersed in Hani and Mia's journey to get the island. The book is told in short chapters, starting with Hani and how he comes to be working in atrocious conditions after escaping Syria with his sister, then we get Mia story of how she came to be in foster care after the death of her parents then gran - she has a home, a roof over her head, yet she doesn't feel loved. She is just a number to her foster carers so she decides to runaway and in doing so meets Hani.

I live in Falkirk so it was great to know the places Mia was talking about (though I kept reading Grangefield as Grangemouth) we follow the pair as they make their way to find Hani's sister and Mia's dream to get to the island she went to as a child with her family. These two kids mange to survive the barren wilderness of Scotland with help from a few kind stranger all whilst running from Hani's 'Uncle' - the man who owns him and trafficked him to Scotland.

When We Get To The Island was brilliant read for adults and young adults alike.

5 stars

[Alison Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well written, thought provoking story, full of adventure that captures the imagination. It should be on the reading list of all schools across the UK.