Marina Maxwell
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • About Me
  • My Books
  • Book Reviews

Reviews


NOTE!   As of May, 2025, I’m taking a sabbatical from writing reviews, apart from those for future editions of Historical Novels Review, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society, and occasional comments on Goodreads.
This is in order to concentrate on my own new writing project in a different genre.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​
I read and review both historical fiction and non-fiction, but also enjoy biographies, crime and some contemporary fiction.
​ 

Please note that unless stated that I have received these books directly from the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review, I either purchase my own copies or source them from my local library service. 

​Links to Amazon, Booktopia or Dymocks in Australia are only for the reader's reference.

My reviews for Historical Novels Review can be found online here
​

The Lost Lights of St Kilda

4/10/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture

​Sometimes it may be simply a haunting cover image or lyrical title of a book that captures my interest and this one has both. Also, there is something about tales of remote and isolated communities that have always fascinated me, as they clearly did the author, and the book is based around the true story of the last people to live on the island of Hirta in the St Kilda archipelago, off the west coast of Scotland. They had been self-sufficient for centuries until a dwindling population and the modern world caught up with them.
 
The story weaves back and forth between the 1940s war in France and St Kilda in 1927-1930. Escaped prisoner, Fred Lawson, is on the run from the Germans and memories of his great love, Chrissie Gillies, help to sustain him through the worst experiences. Likewise, Chrissie has never stopped dreaming of being reunited with Fred, even although they parted over a complicated misunderstanding that was never resolved.
 
Although I’m not normally a fan of the multi-time narrative, in this case the quality of the writing and characters are so absorbing that it doesn’t intrude on one’s enjoyment. The thoughtfulness, observations and evocation of place are sheer beauty. This is both a tender love story and a spine-tingling hymn to a place and people changed by time and history.
 
Just a couple of examples of the prose here: the first is Fred trying to come to terms with the island when he experiences it as young archaeology student investigating what the locals called the Fairies’ House, but really a structure that could date back to the bronze age.
 
 ‘… then gales set in. Giants of dark waves up to sixty feet high, streaming with white spindrift, crashed against the cliffs or folded themselves into great molten barrels of water as they thundered towards the Village Bay. One truly felt what it was to be up against the wrath of the elements. And it was sobering to experience the island’s isolation in bad weather. Imagine a hill farm of some four square miles dropped in the middle of an Atlantic swell that even the sturdiest boats would think twice to sail and you have the situation of St Kilda.’
 
And when Fred and Chrissie argue about beliefs:
 
‘ “How can you talk of the love of God when you are barely clinging on to life here on your rock? When the winter storms your God sends are so damaging and vengeful. Is this the same pally sort of God you catch sight of as you roam across the hills in summer? Which one is he? Now come on, Chrissie. Where’s the logic?”
 
Then my heart broke for him, since I understood well that he was talking about himself and the storms that left him alone in the world. All I could do then was quietly take his hand in mine, if we were alone together, to let him know all I wanted to say. That he might know the comfort of His nearness as it breaks through the day, borne on the sun and the wind. You are loved and you are not alone, I wanted to say, through storms and through hard times, you are very greatly loved.’
 
 
 
Five stars
 
 
amazon.com
 
amazon.co.uk
 
Booktopia

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    See
    Historical Novel Society
    ​
    for my reviews of historical fiction
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • About Me
  • My Books
  • Book Reviews