Island

From one of Britains best-kept secrets the novelist whom the Independent said writes better than almost anyone of her generation comes this brooding tale of the murderous ties that bind a mother and daughter. Abandoned at birth and shuttled among foster homes Nikki Black decides at twenty-eight to seek out her birth mother intent on killing her. Nikkis vengeance takes her to a remote island off the coast of Scotland where both the beaches and the inhabitants are full of artifacts from the past that haunt the present. Here she discovers a witchlike mother who concocts remedies in her dank kitchen and a stuttering monstrous brother whose seemingly simple mind is filled with stories of past islanders crofters and Vikings. Gradually her brothers dangerous love and strange way of seeing the world transform Nikkis life in ways that she and the reader could never expect. With her signature blend of psychological intensity and strong moral underpinnings Jane Rogers skillfully leads us into a primal almost mythic world where our darkest impulses and most profound fears are played out to shocking consequence. Part fairy tale part murder mystery ISLAND is like the madness it depicts terrifying logical and utterly consuming.