Moon Island

by Rosie Thomas

The characters are overdeveloped for a ghost story, not too developed enough for a novel, and generally far too passive. Things just happen to them. I thought I will like Leonie, the only person strong enough to escape gravitational pull of Marian the matriarch; in the end, she irritated me the most. Excerpts from 19^th-century Voyages of the Dolphin are probably the best parts of the book.

‘Sarah, if you do find who you are searching for, what do you truly believe will happen?’ ‘I will make him marry me.’ ‘And if he will not? Or cannot?’ Her wide eyes never wavered. Matthias felt a shiver touch him like the first intimation of a fever. ‘Then I will kill him like a venomous snake.’ The men stood together watching as the boat carried her towards the shore. ‘Do you imagine that she will find him?’ Matthias musingly asked. ‘I am certain she will.’ ‘And then?’ ‘I would not be in that man’s shoes for any money.’

Priceless.