Blog Tour- The Island Girls

Hello everyone and welcome to my post! Today I am super happy to be a part of The Island Girls blog tour! I will be sharing my review for this historical novel written by Noelle Harrison!

Title: The Island Girls

Author: Noelle Harrison

Publisher: Bookouture

Published: 23rd April 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger Warnings: Rape, Abuse, Cancer, Death

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I guess our life on the island was one which never fit you right. I like to imagine you some days when I look out the window across the harbour, all those miles of sea and land between us. But, sister, we are always connected. 

When young nurse Emer loses her beloved sister, she is haunted by grief and desperate to escape her memories. Taking a job in Vinalhaven, a rocky outpost in the wild Atlantic, feels like the refuge she so badly needs. 

Her patient, Susannah, has lived in isolation for many years, since the tragic death of her sister Kate caused her to withdraw from island life. However, when Emer discovers a bundle of letters in a rainbow quilt in her bedroom and shares the story of her own loss, Susannah opens up. She begins to tell the story of Kate’s brutal and secret past, and her marriage to a man with a heart as cold as the ocean. 

But when Emer starts asking locals about Kate, the island air sizzles with hostility. There are people who would rather that Susannah kept quiet, who have no qualms about threatening Emer. But despite the warnings to stay away, Emer is determined to find out what really happened the night Kate died – and the final secret that is keeping Susannah a prisoner to the past. -Goodreads

My thanks to the publisher for my eARC of the novel.

This is the second of Harrison’s novels that I have read, I reviewed The Gravity of Love a few years ago and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to get stuck into another of her novels.

This novel follows two narratives, the story of Emer in present day who is giving palliative care to Susannah, not long after losing her own sister to cancer. We also follow the second narrative of Susannah herself when she was young, and her battle to move away from her close-knit and conservative island community.

This novel is described as ‘heartbreaking’ and I was a bit concerned that this would be much too heavy for me to cope with in the current situation, but overall although the novel contains many sad moments, it is a novel full of hope and love.

This novel does touch on some heavy subjects so I have attached some trigger warnings at the beginning of my review.

I rated this novel 3.5/5 stars, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the split narrative and the writing style was descriptive and imaginative. I also enjoyed both voices, I preferred Susannah and her storyline, although it was the darker of the two. The author’s use of letters throughout the novel also helped to give the narrative depth and stopped the novel from ever becoming dry.

I do think that some of the characters, especially the male characters could’ve been more developed, which did stop me from getting full engrossed into the story. 

Overall I enjoyed this novel, and despite the heavy subject matter, the novel was a quick and light read which I enjoyed, and would recommend as a good beach/holiday read (if we ever get on holiday!).

My thanks to Bookouture and Noelle Harrison for having me as part of the blog tour!