Island Song

by Madeleine Bunting

A spellbinding novel of love, hidden World War II secrets and living with the enemy on the island of Guernsey, from the author of The Plot and Love of CountryIn 1940, Helene, young, naive, and recently married, waves goodbye to her husband, who has enlisted in the British army. Her home, Guernsey, is soon invaded by the Germans, leaving her exposed to the hardships of occupation. Forty years later, her daughter, Roz, begins a search for the truth about her father, and stumbles into the secret history of her mother's life.Written with emotional acuity and passionate intensity, Island Song speaks of the moral complexities of war-time allegiances, the psychological toll of living with the enemy and the messy reality of human relationships in a tightly knit community. As Roz discovers, truth is hard to pin down, and so are the rights and wrongs of those struggling to survive in the most difficult of circumstances.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, World War II, Historical, Audiobook

385 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

Madeleine was born in North Yorkshire, one of five children of artist parents. She studied history at Corpus Christi, Cambridge and Harvard, US. She held a number positions at the Guardian including reporter, leader writer, religious affairs editor, and for twelve years, she was a columnist. She wrote about a wide range of subjects including Islam, faith, global development, politics and social change.
She directed the Guardian’s first ever festival, Open Weekend, in 2012.
From 2012-14, she led a team as Editorial Director of Strategy, working on a project around reimagining the institution of a newspaper and its relationship with readers.
​
She has a longstanding interest in contemplative practices and in 2013 she co-founded The Mindfulness Initiative to explore the potential of mindfulness in public policy particularly health and education. The Initiative supported the All Party Parliamentary Group in their 10 month inquiry which led to a report Mindful Nation UK, published in October 2015.
She lives in East London with her family.

She has received a number of awards and prizes including an honorary fellowship from Cardiff University in 2013, the Portico Prize for The Plot in 2010, a Lambeth MA degree in 2006, The Race in the Media award in 2005 and the Imam wa Amal Special Award in 2002. She has won several One World Media awards for her journalism on global justice.

Reviews

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book begins with a prologue and a death in 1994 before flipping back to 1940 where Helene waves goodbye to her eldest brother and her husband only a few days as they head off to war. But war ends up coming to her home on the island of Guernsey which is invaded by the Germans. Life under occupation becomes difficult and hard choice need to be made. Choices not everyone will agree with. Forty years later after being given a letter, Roz begins a search for the identity of her father. She finds a lot of her mother’s life that Roz and her two brothers Edward and Jim knew nothing about.
A novel of secrets, hardships and the horrors of war, choices, family and survival, this is an involving read. It presents the reader with a detailed view of occupation,, well researched and one that is not featured as much as other aspects of war are. Both Roz and Helene are complex characters, with strengths and weaknesses explored. So are the other characters. It was easy to be drawn into the story. Told largely in alternating chapters between the past and the present, between Helene and Roz. As Roz tries to discover more about her mother during time spent in Guernsey she is confronted with silences and hints of gossip from the islanders. There are several twists before the full story comes out.
I found this an engrossing read. It caught my interest at the start and kept it throughout. There are moments that make you believe in the kindness of humanity and moments that swing the other way. In other words it shows the full human experience. I have never been to Guernsey or read much about it, so this ws all new and interesting to me. Those who enjoy historical novels, war stories and family stories with secrets should enjoy this. I certainly did and would recommend this book.

[Abbie | ab_reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars - not necessarily a bad novel just one that didn’t work for me. A surefire way to lose a whole star from me is to turn a seemingly happy and voluntarily child-free main character into a moral lesson for how children bring a deeper significance to life. No thanks.

[Alayne Emmett · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely book. It was just the sort of story I love. It’s based in the Channel Islands in WW2 and time slips to present day.
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the island and the invasion of the Germans, the hardships and the terror that the islanders suffered.
I hope there will be more from this author.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 2 out of 5]

My subjectively low rating reflects that this really isn't the book I expected it to be: I thought it would be more literary fiction given its publication by Granta, but really it's historical romance with a large dash of commercial 'women's fiction'. Set on Nazi-occupied Guernsey, there are all the expected forbidden love triangles, unexpected babies and dark family secrets that the genre requires. The structure is that over-familiar one of a daughter 'now' uncovering her mother's past life with flashbacks to the war years.

This feels well enough researched though anyone even lightly familiar with the occupation of the Channel Islands is unlikely to learn anything new. Roz's gasps of horror are markers of a ridiculous ignorance that's hard to credit ('That's terrible,' gasped Roz. She stood still. 'That's repulsive - people died.')

The writing is workmanlike ('Helene's heart would thud heavily and fear would constrict her throat'). The Oxford-educated handsome Nazi with barely a trace of a German accent has surely become a stock character - and there's a marked naivety as characters assure each other 'he knew nothing of the gas chambers'.

So this is a case of wrong book, wrong reader - do read all the other positive reviews to get a balanced feel for the book.

[Katrina Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah, what a brilliant story! Based on the true German occupation of the Channel Islands during WW2, this story really details the conditions that the local population were living under, and also delves into artworks lost during the period. Absolutely fascinating and historically accurate, this book covers it all. I loved it and really couldn’t put it down, I really wanted to know how it was all going to end. And then the ending................I don’t want to give anything away, but wow! Highly recommend that you pick this up. It will keep you totally gripped.

[Elite Group · Rating 5 out of 5]

War and love – conflicting emotions.

Rosamund Wardle (Roz) is handed a letter by the family solicitor after her mother, Helene's funeral. In it, her father Justin reveals that he is not her real father. He explains how he met her mother when Roz was a very young child. They had met when Helene brought in paintings for him to sell. The paintings had been stolen by Nazi soldiers during WW2. He never questioned how her mother had come to possess them.

The letter shatters Roz’s very comfortable world, and she decides to start investigating her mother’s past. With the bit of information that she has, she travels to Guernsey, her mother’s place of birth to see if she can trace her real father and to find out how her mother survived the German occupation of the island during WW2.

Helene’s father had been the parish priest of Torteval. It was here, in the Vicarage that she passed the years of the occupation. Her brother, Edward and husband of a few days, Tom left in high spirits to join up. It was also here that she met Kapitän Heinrich Schulze, a German soldier. He “adopted” the family and ensured that they received whatever luxuries he could find.

It was also here, in the Vicarage, that Helene managed to hide Alexei, a young Russian who had managed to escape from the Germans.

Madeleine Bunting has created a remarkable and moving story about Roz’s need to discover the truth about her birth and her real father. The story gives us the heart-breaking insight into life on Guernsey during the war. She has perfectly captured how love can occur between captured and captor, and the consequences of this love.

The characters who we follow through this tale are strong, alive and make the story feel as though it’s a video we’re watching as events unfold as we travel with Roz as she tries to unravel the truth about her mother’s time living through the very dark days of occupation.

I loved every single beautiful word in this novel. I leave it feeling so sad. Sad that the islanders suffered the most appalling treatment at the hands of the Germans, even worse the “slaves” they brought from places like Russia, often just young boys who were starved, beaten and held in the most appalling conditions. I’ve learnt so much from this novel. Not just about conditions people endured but the research that has gone into reuniting owners of paintings stolen from them by the Germans.

I think this quote sums the book, “We need to know where we come from – even if we only ever end up with myths. Without a story of origins, we’re at sea.”

A truly beautiful story – thank you, Madeleine Bunting.

Treebeard

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

[Fern A · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has taken me a while to process this book after I finished reading because there was just so much to take in and ponder. It has one of the most intriguing, gripping and interesting plots to a story that I have read for quite some time.

Island Song is split between the story of Helene who lives on the Island of Guernsey during it’s German occupation in the Second World War and then nearer the present day, her daughter Roz who after her mother dies discovers what she has been told about her family and who she is might not be altogether correct. The book switches between the two generations while piecing together what really happened on Guernsey during the war and to her mother since with lots of fabricated stories, tales of second hand gossip and twists and turns along the way.

Bunting has obviously done her research on the occupation and has managed to really develop both the plot line and characters fully. I really appreciated that the characters were fully dimensional with strengths and weaknesses and there was a real humanity in this making it believable and all the more poignant as to what people did experience during occupation. I also loved that she didn’t answer all the questions but deliberately left some lines not fully spelt out for the reader to negotiate with their own imaginations.
This had me on the edge of my seat until the last page as just when you think you’ve got the story sussed something else happened.
I absolutely loved reading this and if there was an option for more than 5 stars it would be getting so many more!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Sophie Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As soon as Roz is handed a letter from her solicitor following the death of her mother, Helene, presenting the life-changing news that the father she knew and loved was in fact not her biological father at all, we are instantly thrust into a complex and gripping character journey. As a reader you are not only drawn into the complicated familial journey Roz experiences as she seeks to find out the secrets of her past, but also a profound moral quandary, as we slowly learn more about Helene’s past on Nazi occupied Guernsey throughout the Second World War. This is an incredibly moving, thought-provoking, and engrossing novel from start to finish.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. The last lines left tears in my eyes.

[Karyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard the audio version of this book from the British council Library via Libby.
I only recently read about Guernsey in another famous book and this one just came along.
Its a story about Roz, who upon the death of her father, receives a letter, saying she was not his daughter and that Helen ( Roz's mother) was previously married.
Thus, begins Roz's search for answers, as to who her mother was and what was her story in Guernsey about.
During the occupation, life was not easy and everyone was trying to survive the situation as they could. Being a small community, the town folk knew who was doing what and what was happening all over.
Its an emotional story, with Roz looking for answers, where no one wants to discuss her mother, or her life during that period of time. It was complicated situation, where Antiques were involved and being friends with the enemy had not helped.

I did read more about the occupation during the course of this book, to see what it was like.
I learnt about the kids who had to leave the island and how upon returning they were not able to speak their language.

If you like historical Fiction, and something about the Occupation on the Islands, this one is for you.

[Jeanie]

Thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest review
Firstly I just want to say this is an utterly brilliant work of fictional brilliance.
From the first page it has you totally captivated such
A brilliant plot with the twin timing that slipped so easy between the two era's I want to give nothing away I really can't praise this book enough and will be telling family and friends this book deserves more stars than I can give utterly BRILLIANT EXTRAVAGANZA.

[Anne Goodwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

After her mother’s death in 1994, Roz receives a letter from her father who died a few years before. Its contents make her question everything she ever thought about herself: the man who brought her up is not her biological father, and her mother would never tell him whoever was.

In a parallel narrative, Helene is newly married but her husband, along with her beloved brother, has left his native Guernsey to enlist in the Second World War. As German troops threaten to occupy the island, Helene too considers leaving for England, but remains instead to support her elderly father and to teach in a school.

The strands connect through Roz’s research into her origins but, when she enquires about her mother, it’s clear the islanders are holding something back. She might learn more by joining forces with Antoine, whom she meets in London’s Imperial War Museum. The young Frenchman’s research covers similar territory, although his focus is the paintings purloined by the Nazis from Jewish homes; a painful area for Roz since the man she knew as her father was involved in passing them on.

Journeys of personal discovery: Blue Tide Rising & Island Song https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post...

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this novel slow and plodding, and not as strong as the writer's non-fiction work - for instance, Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture Is Ruling Our Lives or The Plot: A Biography Of An English Acre. There were some lovely descriptions of Guernsey and a mystery that intrigued me but it never quite came together. The dialogue wasn't very lifelike and I was disappointed that she left some parts of the WW2 story pretty hazy - you got the basics of who did what to whom but not so much of the how or why. Given that much of the present-day story was about the research process I think she led the reader to expect that there would be more answers forthcoming than there actually were.

[Joe Stamber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a number of novels in this genre, Island Song has a dual timeline. In the present, Roz's mother Helene has just just died, and she sets about investigating her somewhat mysterious past. Sharing the story is Helene herself, struggling to survive in occupied Guernsey during the Second World War. I preferred Helene's part of the story, which has an authentic feel and is genuine historical fiction. The chapters featuring Roz slowly uncovering details as she pieces everything together are okay, but simply not as interesting or engaging. Well-written and easy to read though, and definitely worth reading.

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good. I couldn’t put this book down while at the same time I didn’t want it to end. Island Song is a poignant and gripping story, well told. I hold a special interest for the Chanel Isles, Guernsey in particular, although I have never been there; so this could be why the story held such appeal for me.

[Dawn Hutchings-walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book felt like playing with my grandparents turtle (metal, not real) and listening to their occupation stories. Warm and comforting, but exciting too.

[Tamsin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It made me want to visit Guernsey, read more from this author and definitely read more about the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War - brilliant, I loved the style of writing and didn’t want the book to end.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the reasons people like dramas set during war time is that the moral choices seem to be so much clearer and more absolute. In Madeleine Bunting's debut novel, however, the opposite is true.

Set both in the present and during the second world war, Island Song examines the fate of Helene Le Lacheur, a young woman stranded on Guernsey during the Nazi occupation. She has lost touch with her husband who is serving somewhere in France, her father has been deported to a prison camp, she is hiding an escaped Russian slave-labourer, and at the same time she finds herself gradually drawn into a love-affair with Heinrich, an intelligent, charming, but ambivalent German officer.

Helene's story is revealed both through glimpses of her own experience and through a series of imaginative conjectures, sometimes accurate sometimes not, on the part of Roz, her daughter who is trying to unravel her mother's history after her death. Roz is assisted in her investigations by Antoine, a French academic trying to trace works of art stolen by the Nazis.

It's a story firmly grounded in a sense of place: the sights, smells and social life of Guernsey, past and present, are strongly evoked, making the island one of the strongest characters in the narrative. But it's precisely this intense insularity that is Helene's undoing. She can escape neither the watchful eyes nor the stern judgement of her fellow islanders and when her precarious balancing act finally comes to an end retribution awaits.

A novel about compromise and survival, Island Song picks apart the confused notions of history and identity that attach themselves to our understanding of Europe's past and of our own present, and in doing so demonstrates how courage can coexist with confusion. A brave story, delicately put together.

[Nicola · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a somewhat “clunky” novel with too many set pieces such as explanatory letters, to many coincidences and the over use of research gained about the topic i.e. Guernsey during the German occupation. The plot was predictable and well used format of children researching a family history. Even the plot twist at the end did nothing to help but just made the whole novel and the relationship between Helene and Heinrich more incredible.

[Emma McAra · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot is not entirely original: middle aged woman ‘now’ choosing to discover her past. But it still had potential to be enjoyable on the surface.

I don’t mind the shift of POVs from Helene in WW2 and Roz in 1990s.
What I had umbridge with was Roz’s speech, which at times sounded unnatural ‘it’s whetted my appetite’ and ‘rich with the smell of pine needles’. This is description not a natural conversation. Her ‘chance’ meeting with Antoine was forced, unnecessary and a bit lazy. The plot bordered on reasonable but was handled clumsily without tack.
Roz discovers a lot of Helene’s past through a diary or through Antoine’s vague help and old people’s memories. Again, crude but simple forms of navigating the past. I did find the glimpses of her mother’s life in the diary poignant since we are already in a mindset of what happened to the people whereas Roz sees the diary through fresh eyes.
I preferred Helene’s story. But we jumped large time gaps; at 72% in we had skipped almost two years, so there no build up of the relationship she had with Heinrich. Disappointing.
The main scene that stuck for me was when Helene is walking through the town at the end of the war. I will not reveal but that was significant moment.

This was also not just a love story or a daughter discovering her mother’s past. This also brought in a subplot regarding the art that was stolen during that time.
Personally, if you took the whole art plot out, focussed on Helene’s actual life more, build up her relationships with others and what she actually did (because we are told nothing) you would have albeit a simpler story, but a richer one that allowed you to connect with the characters. Rather than have characters like Antoine who are very shallow or Heinrich who get just glimpses of.
I found myself skipping chunks of detail that added nothing to the overall setting or feel if the characters just to finish.
The epilogue was slow, almost dropped at the last minute to tie a few loose-ish ends, but altogether, by that point, I hadn’t connected with Roz so the ‘surprise’ at the end, which came out of nowhere, meant very little.
Potential to be good but not a hugely poignant WW2 novel as anticipated.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel was strikingly well-researched and intelligently written – the words flowed as if written fluidly by a pen. I’m in awe. It’s descriptive of places I’ve never been, particularly Guernsey. I felt as if I was involved in visiting Guernsey; it was so vivid. The other fascinating side of the coin was Heinrich’s vivid description of what it was like growing up in Berlin including the cultural side of Berlin at one point in time. It was a historical mystery but also a moving, touching, heart-rending and poignant love story. It filled your heart with joy, pain and the tense fear of detection that was experienced by Helene and Heinrich. Love doesn’t discriminate and transcends all boundaries. I came to the story with a basic knowledge of the German invasion. There was a series on TV years ago which was interesting, but after the first series, they decided the ratings were too poor to put on a second series. I didn’t realise that the Germans occupied the islands for five years. I would love to browse around the museum that the book mentioned. It amused me that the German soldiers viewed their role as 'a holiday at the seaside' and enjoyed decadent parties. It places the war on a plateau of understanding I’ve not read before keenly revealing both sides of the disruption it caused to countries, communities, families and individuals. Most astonishing was how it changed people’s personalities. I learnt such a lot from reading this novel. I’m not likely to forget its themes. Thank you to NetGalley and Granta Books.

[Cristina Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book could be associated with fact, as these things happened including a secret poetry society, the strength of people during times of invasion , bringing isolation, misery fear and the expectations bearing down on the very fabric of all known in the islands social and economic structure are invalidated and they have no rights on top of starving .

Love and loneliness outweigh the moral conditioning as people are transported from the island to camps, soldiers take what want in all ways, people are forced to collaborate so as not to starve. As story encaptulates, the degradation of Germany and the soldier explains the wretchedness, of course, they will retaliate in cruelty, many are like the soldier who aspires to be different and giving they do not want to fight but have no choice. there are many like him who support and share and fall in love
and the plot shows how he endured the two lives leaving paintings to the women he wanted could survive and planned to meet her later and searched for her, of course, the twist is that she was beaten and had run from her home start a new life, and finds a sister in Germany, how wonderful to know that father has not forgotten you that is keen. Displacement happens all over the world and this book shows a wider outlook, brilliant writer.

[Suzanne Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.
I like to read a book set in a place I'm visiting and as I'm off for a trip to Guernsey soon I found this one, and I'm so glad I did.

With almost something for everyone its part historical (WWII), mystery, family saga and romance.
Set in a duel timeline of WWII and mid 1990's we follow Roz who on the death of her mother Helene is given a letter left to her by her deceased father who gave instruction that it was only to be given to her on the death of her mother. The letter uncovers a family secret which leads Roz on a quest to find out the truth of her birth and other untold family history that her mother had kept to herself. As Roz visits not only Guernsey but Alderney, Paris and Russia more and more of the true story of Helene's past is uncovered.

Through the telling of Roz and Helene's story Madeleine Bunting, the author, has managed to brilliantly incorporate her research from her non fiction books into this work of fiction. Reading this I have learnt so much more about the German occupation of the the Chanel Islands in WWII, the treatment of Russian prisoners and the impact on the conflict on all involved.

I shall be recommending this book to anyone that will listen and am very much looking forward to my trip to Guernsey and seeing places mentioned in the book.

[Geof Sewell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Madeleine Bunting is a Guardian journalist and The Plot was the first book I read for my first book club. I walk up to the Drovers' Road twice weekly; she brought its history and familiarity to life. So I was astonished to find the Prologue of Island Song so disorienting. Who were Roz, Helene and Justin and what was their connection to the island I remembered from childhood holidays in the 1950s? Guernsey's worst hour held no secrets. Among the pamphlets about cultural events like the Flower Festival, our boarding house landlady kept books about love affairs between Guernsey women and Germans, the Islanders' betrayals of Jews and the war crimes committed on a Crown Dependency. I can still recite the circlet of bays where my sister and I learned to swim: pebbly Fermain, sheltered Moulin Huet, windswept Portelet. Who could forget the earthen field boundaries and the wild fuschia on the track from the bus stop to Petit Bot? This corny plot - who was my father, what secrets was my mother withholding - reworked the Oedipus myth for a post-Brexit age and I was hooked.

[Bowerbird · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story itself is set in two timelines. Roz who has just lost her mother Helene, starts researching her mother's past. Helene had told her family almost nothing about her life in Guernsey during the war, but it becomes apparent that she had held on to several very deep secrets. Where did she obtain the artworks through which she met Justin? Who were the people she spoke of as she lay dying? Why was she no longer the outgoing person she had been as a youngster? Of the two, Helene's is the more fascinating story, but through Roz we are eventually able to discover the truth.

(When I visited Jersey in my late teens, World War 2 had not been over so long but as a teenager the past didn't intrude on my holiday. Since then of course I have become much more aware of the German occupation of the Channel Islands, and this book illustrates some of the horrors and difficulties brought about by that.)

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Island Song is two stories told alongside one another. In the present day, we have Roz, who following the death of her mother, receives a letter from the man she understood to be her father. Justin wrote to Roz prior to his own death some years earlier. The letter turns Roz's world upside down, she has to act on and research the secrets revealed.
In 1940, a young Helene is living through the German Occupation of the Channel Islands. Her new husband and her brother have enlisted with the British Army. Helene helps to run the home she shares with her father and Nanna. The WW2 Occupation was a time of grave uncertainty and Helene's story, is very much one of survival, flight or fight. Helene evolved from a carefree young girl into a woman of great fortitude.
I enjoyed this book, though I did feel at times a little bogged down with it, there was a lot going on.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where do I begin! Wow!

I absolutely loved this book. I'm really interested in WW2 history and you could really tell that this book was well researched.
The story brought to life the very often overlooked German occupation of the Channel Islands. You hear very little about this small part of the war, but the story really helps you to understand what it must have been like during the occupation. The uncertainty of what would happen, what it took to survive. The trials of love, life and friendship during a time that was so unsure. The story moves between two timelines, but it is not difficult to stay on track.

I was completely engulfed from the very beginning, the story is intricate, captivating and memorable. The ending was surprising, it completely catches you off-guard! It is a very well written book, and I will certainly be looking out for future works by Madeleine.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and found it hard to put down from about 2/3 of the way through.
Whilst the book is a work of fiction, the clarity with which it relates the 'facts' the the second world war as happened on Guernsey is very well done; at times it truly felt like it was in fact someone's memoir.
The description of Guernsey, the people, the places and of the war were deeply and carefully thought through. My heart leapt and sank for Roz as she tried to make sense of her past. I just knew there would be more to the final story than finding out who her father was and it was lovely that, in the end, we found out.
I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would and, having always wanted to go to Guernsey (having been to Jersey) I am now keen to visit the places mentioned and described in the book.

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Island Song is a brilliant story told in two timelines ,during the German Occupation of Guernsey in WW2 and present day .Roz's Mother Helene has died and a letter left to her tells her the person she always thought of as her Father was not !!! Roz travels to Guernsey where her Mother was born in search of her Family history .This is such a well written book a real page turner and the descriptions are wonderful ,all the characters come to life ,what an amazing book and I just loved the ending .10 stars if I could . Many thanks to the Publisher ,the Author and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books that switch between different time periods, and this did not disappoint. We follow Roz on a mission to uncover the truth about her mother's past - and her own - and in the process move back and forth between the present day and Guernsey's German occupation during the war.

I've read a few other books set during the latter period - but this one seemed grittier in detail, and I suspect is probably closer to the truth of how people lived and survived those days.

A fabulously absorbing read - I couldn't put it down - and I'm looking forward to reading other novels by Madeleine Bunting.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for my honest review.