Chrissie belongs to one of the small number of families eking out a life on Hirta, the largest St Kilda island. While they have some crops and livestock, much of the inhabitants' livelihood comes from the seabirds that live on the cliffs. Island men daringly abseil from giddying heights - no safety harnesses here - to collect fulmar chicks for their oil and meat. Day trippers in the summer take the boat to visit "the last hunter-gatherers in Great Britain" and shop for island handcrafts.
Into this forgotten world Fred arrives to study rock formations with his friend, the dashingly handsome and trouble-making Archie Mcleod. Archie is the laird's son and fellow student who had caught the eye of Chrissie as a young girl. The story describes Fred's settling in and we discover the island through his eyes as well as the problem he has falling for someone from a completely different way of life.
Woven through this love-against-the-odds story is Fred's escape with a fellow soldier, their help from ordinary folk and the French Resistance, their nail-biting journey across the Pyrenees to Spain. It's an engrossing story with wonderful characters, tangled emotions set at a time of social and political upheaval. And while Fred's escape story had me on the edge of my seat, it was the descriptions of St Kilda that had me particularly captivated. Really and truly, this is a lost world.
The Lost Lights of St Kilda is a terrific read. I had previously enjoyed other books by this author, particularly Secrets of the Sea House (set on the Isle of Skye), but I think this the best so far. She has a knack for creating memorable characters - ordinary people often in extraordinary situations. A great book for historical fiction fans.
Posted by JAM
Catalogue link: The Lost Lights of St Kilda
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