A spellbinding, deeply felt debut novel--soaring and poignant--about passion, freedom, motherhood, and the power to shape our destinies.
Oona grew up on the island of Inis: a wind-blasted rock off the coast of Ireland where the men went out on fishing boats and the women tended turf fires; where the only book was the Bible; and where girls stayed at home until they became mothers themselves. The island was a gift for some, a prison for others. Even as a child, Oona knew she wanted to leave, but she never could have anticipated the tumultuous turn of events that would ultimately compel her to flee. Now, after twenty years--after Oona has forged a new, very different life for herself--her daughter vanishes, forcing Oona to face her past in order, finally, to be free of it. Heralding a singularly gifted new voice in fiction, The Island Child is a timeless story of birth and betrayal, storms and shipwrecks and fairy children, and the weight of long-buried secrets.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Oona grew up on the island of Inis: a wind-blasted rock off the coast of Ireland where the men went out on fishing boats and the women tended turf fires; where the only book was the Bible; and where girls stayed at home until they became mothers themselves. The island was a gift for some, a prison for others. Even as a child, Oona knew she wanted to leave, but she never could have anticipated the tumultuous turn of events that would ultimately compel her to flee. Now, after twenty years--after Oona has forged a new, very different life for herself--her daughter vanishes, forcing Oona to face her past in order, finally, to be free of it. Heralding a singularly gifted new voice in fiction, The Island Child is a timeless story of birth and betrayal, storms and shipwrecks and fairy children, and the weight of long-buried secrets.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Aitken stitches together many themes--folk-legend, family saga, love story, coming of age tale. The result is the sort of book you want to sink into a hot bath with and not emerge until it's finished." - Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
"I read The Island Child in a day, and I know I'll be coming back to it. It reads like a dream. Written in quietly sorcerous prose, this novel combines the uncluttered abstraction of a fable with the odd calamitous detail. Like the casts of fairy stories, Aitken's characters can stand for as much as you want them to--but they're also fully realised individuals who come to you through peeks and glances, so that without being able to pinpoint how it happened, you know them, and feel you always have. This is a thrillingly original debut, and I can't wait to see what Aitken does next." - Naoise Dolan
"It's a rare pleasure to come across quite such an accomplished novel as The Island Child. This is a work positively brimming with pathos and emotion, articulated in truly exquisite prose. Oona is a captivating narrator. She's alive on the page." - Nathan Filer
"A beautiful wrench of a book. I can still feel it tingling under my skin." - Katie Hale
"A magical, elemental tale. Exploring loss and love, motherhood and freedom and the transformative power of stories, The Island Child is a wonderful debut." - Jess Kidd
"he Island Child is an evocative and original tale exploring motherhood, told in rich, beautiful prose. A wonderful debut." - Jenny Quintana
"The Island Child is the story of a mother's relationship with a misbegotten daughter, sensitively and subtly told." - Fay Weldon
"I read The Island Child in a day, and I know I'll be coming back to it. It reads like a dream. Written in quietly sorcerous prose, this novel combines the uncluttered abstraction of a fable with the odd calamitous detail. Like the casts of fairy stories, Aitken's characters can stand for as much as you want them to--but they're also fully realised individuals who come to you through peeks and glances, so that without being able to pinpoint how it happened, you know them, and feel you always have. This is a thrillingly original debut, and I can't wait to see what Aitken does next." - Naoise Dolan
"It's a rare pleasure to come across quite such an accomplished novel as The Island Child. This is a work positively brimming with pathos and emotion, articulated in truly exquisite prose. Oona is a captivating narrator. She's alive on the page." - Nathan Filer
"A beautiful wrench of a book. I can still feel it tingling under my skin." - Katie Hale
"A magical, elemental tale. Exploring loss and love, motherhood and freedom and the transformative power of stories, The Island Child is a wonderful debut." - Jess Kidd
"he Island Child is an evocative and original tale exploring motherhood, told in rich, beautiful prose. A wonderful debut." - Jenny Quintana
"The Island Child is the story of a mother's relationship with a misbegotten daughter, sensitively and subtly told." - Fay Weldon
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