A Michael L. Printz Honor Book and Carnegie Medal Winner! New from Geraldine McCaughrean comes an extraordinary story of eight boys stranded on a rock in the middle of the sea, left to fight for their survival. Every time a lad went fowling on the stacs, he came home less of a boy and more of a man. If he went home at all, that is. Every summer Quill and his friends are put ashore on a remote … his friends are put ashore on a remote sea stac to hunt birds. But this summer, no one arrives to take them home. Surely nothing but the end of the world can explain why they’ve been abandoned–cold, starving and clinging to life, in the grip of a murderous ocean. How will they survive such a forsaken place of stone and sea?
This is an extraordinary story of fortitude, endurance, tragedy and survival, set against an unforgettable backdrop of savage beauty.
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I feel privileged to have read this novel. It’s dark and mystical and IMO a remarkable accomplishment. Based loosely on a true story of fowlers in the year 1727, who eek out a living in a remote area of the British Isles. They are dropped off on an uninhabitable stac of rock in the ocean to forage for birds and then are seemingly forgotten for many months. How McCaughrean pulled this off with no knowledge whatsoever of what happened while they were there is a testament to human imagination, what it can create, what it can reveal in its world-building. So many pages I marked, marveling at not just her prose but her wisdom. Some examples:
“He looked inside his skull, like a cleit, and found it full to the brim with imaginations that might just sustain him through the bad times ahead.” [Cleits are stone storage mounds for drying the birds they catch; much of the book details how Quilliam, the main character, retreats to his head and finds ways to survive mentally]
“It went through Quilliam’s head that if there was one thing he wanted to see before he died, it was Murdina Galloway’s sleeping face in the dip of a pillow filled with feathers he had gathered himself.” [I loved the use of a love interest as a way to survive]
“Crow Cold had come to roost in Midway Bothy. It pecked holes in the skin of their faces, it stole the feeling from noses and fingertips and ears. It hopped about among their sleeping places, spread its claws on their throats, feeling for heat.” [Loved the bird metaphor through the book.]
“Every Kilda man is part bird, because he knows how it feels to plummet out of the sky toward the brightness of sea.”
I did wonder at this being Middle Grade. It seemed to me that the language was pretty advanced, and even some of the topics. For sure adults who love lit fiction will appreciate this. The pacing at some points dragged a tad but then quickly picked up again. Did I think we needed the one death? No. I’m guessing an editor asked for that to increase drama. But it was still riveting.
It was a bit odd to read this right after The Mercies. Total coincidence that I read them back to back, but they have very similar setting, themes, and tone.
And while we all dip into our own new world of virus isolation and uncertainty, these are the kinds of stories that can keep us going. Highly recommend (if you can handle dark stories), as do the Carnegie and Printz committees.
This wasn’t for me despite being a fan of the author descriptive writing style. I was left bored and disinterested in the story, and more often than not, found myself zoning out and not really paying attention to what was happening. Unfortunately this was a miss for me but I will definitely consider giving this another try in the future.
This is the best book I’ve read this year. Extraordinary.
From tragedy McCaughrean has created a wonderful love story.
Brilliant, beautiful, as unpredictable as the sea itself.
“Every time a lad came fowling on the St Kilda stacs, he went home less of a boy and more of a man. If he went home at all, that is…”
In the summer of 1727, a group of men and boys were sent to a sea stac (only a few miles away from the shore) to harvest birds for food – they are left there for about 1 week upwards to three weeks, but no one ever returns to collect them. Why? The men and the boys start speculating on the reasons why they were left there for months. Abandoned, they had to endure storms, starvation and terror.
Geraldine McCaughrean writes a triumphant story on the strength of human resolve, faith and strength in a time of survival and endurance not just the body but also the mind. For such a simple story, McCaughrean was able to write on the vulnerability of humans in the face of isolation and suffering.
McCaughrean was able to create an atmosphere that is dark and chilly. The book’s story was loosely based on true events that showed how people can survive and be changed through the harshness and bitterness of having to survive on a mass of rock in the sea. What a beautiful and poignant story that I highly recommend.