The Lost Lights of St Kilda by Elisabeth Gifford

Blurb

"A sweeping, powerful novel set on the Scottish island of St Kilda, following the last community to live there before it was evacuated in 1930.

Summer 1927: When Fred Lawson takes a summer job on St Kilda, little does he realise that he has joined the last community to ever live on that beautiful, isolated island. Only three years later, St Kilda will be evacuated, the islanders near-dead from starvation. But for Fred, that summer - and the island woman, Chrissie, whom he falls in love with - becomes the very thing that sustains him in the years ahead.

1940: Fred has been captured behind enemy lines in France and finds himself in a prisoner-of-war camp. Beaten and exhausted, his thoughts return to the island of his youth and the woman he loved and lost. When Fred makes his daring escape, prompting a desperate journey across occupied territory, he is sustained by one thought only: finding his way back to her.

The Lost Lights of St Kilda is a sweeping love story that will cross oceans and decades. It is a moving and deeply vivid portrait of two lovers, a desolate island, and the extraordinary power of hope in the face of darkness."

Hardcover, 288 pages
Published March 5th 2020 by Corvus
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sharing an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

My Review

This is a novel of two main halves; the story moves back and forth between Chrissie's time growing up on the island and Fred's point of view as a prisoner of war in 1940 trying to get home. Occasionally we also join Rachel Anne in Scotland in 1940 trying to understand her heritage of the island of St Kilda.

Elisabeth Gifford paints a vivid picture of life on St Kilda, the remains of a community that had lost more and more people to opportunities on the mainland, to a point where continuing to live on the island was no longer sustainable. I really valued this glimpse of another time and a completely different way of life and the descriptions of the starkly beautiful but unforgiving land and sea. The focus on their environment, community, the animals and the seasons was humbling and the story of their eventual evacuation and loss of all they had ever known was devastating.

The other half set in war torn Europe follows Fred's struggles to avoid the enemy while helped by many ordinary people acting in extraordinary ways to resist and save people in dangerous situations. He reminisces about his time on the island with Chrissie and begins to question what is worth fighting for.

I enjoyed the relationship between Fred and Chrissie but for me it was secondary to the story of the island community which touched me deeply. It's sad to think of an island and its people with thousands of years' of history and traditions now lost forever.

I gave this book 4 out of 5.

The Author