Island Memories

In ancient, pre-literate cultures across the globe, tribal elders had encyclopedic memories. They could name all the animals and plants across a landscape, identify the stars in the sky, and recite the history of their people. Yet today, most of us struggle to memorize more than a short poem. Using traditional Aboriginal Australian song lines as a starting point, Dr. Lynne Kelly has since identified the powerful memory technique used by our ancestors and indigenous people around the world.

From the Booker Prize finalist, author of The Island of Missing Trees, an enchanting new tale about three characters living along two great rivers, all connected by a single drop of water. "Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf. Make place for her in your heart too. You won't regret it...

Teacher Charlotte Kingston is sent to close a school on an isolated Scilly Isle where she used to spend holidays with her grandparents. But when two visiting children find themselves in need of a place to stay, Charlotte agrees to care for the boys, and decides to keep the school open a little longer. Hearing about her family from the islanders, Charlotte starts decoding her grandmother's old letters from WWII, and a story emerges of forbidden love and a brave man who would risk everything for his country, even giving up the woman he loved.

Christopher Wheeler would rather spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair than let Becca Powell reach inside his heart. The terror of losing another person in his life prevents him from a love that could change his world forever.

'A surprising page-turner, full of humour and startling details' THE TIMES 'If I read a better history this year, I will be lucky' TOM HOLLAND 'An astonishing tour de force’ SPECTATOR Shortlisted for the HWA Nonfiction Crown Award Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize From Peter Marshall...

When Jenna returns to Sandover Island after her mother's death, her past and future intersect in ways she couldn’t imagine. Specifically with her high school nemesis, Jackson. As much as she'd like to, Jenna can’t seem to avoid Jackson's smirking and frustratingly attractive face. She doesn’t know why he’s pulling this new, nice-guy act, but she isn’t buying. And if it isn’t an act, Jenna might really be in trouble.

A remote island. A suppressed memory. A conspiracy that was never meant to be disturbed. Private investigator Maya Chen is running from her past, but her latest case is about to drag her back into the dark. Hired under mysterious circumstances to investigate the supposed suicide of a troubled young woman, Sarah Blackwood, Maya travels to the isolated Blackwood Island off the coast of Maine. From the moment she arrives, the island feels unnervingly familiar, and the imposing Blackwood mansion seems to watch her with a chilling sense of recognition. The family is a knot of secrets: a ...

With his white beard and red suspenders, his salty good humor, harmonica, and bucket of tall tales, Zeke Layne is one of those memorable characters you can still occasionally find - whether it be a Chincoteague Island waterman or retired Cape Cod fisherman or charter boat skipper in the Florida Keys, or in the case of Memory Layne, Bob Adamov’s poignant word portrait, a former Miller ferry boat captain on Lake Erie. Zeke lives with his daughter, teenage granddaughter and golden lab in an old mobile home, built on steel pilings at the Miller Ferry Catawba dock, with a view from his deck of...

When Mallory Barrows finds an old diary in a box of books, the story she finds within sends her on the hunt for the owner—and maybe more. Theirs is a story ripped from a country song. A wedding, a former love presumed dead, her new love stepping aside. And over 40 years later, their story is one few remember. With Mallory determined to find the people in the pages of that diary, one couple is offered the second chance of a lifetime.

The Jersey Boys and Liberation! Some compelling wartime memories from three remarkable men. By Don Hale. This is the true story of two remarkable Jersey Boys, and an eventual Liberator, who were all teenagers at the start of World War Two, but soon became embroiled in a variety of dramatic events following the Occupation of Jersey in the Channel Islands by German Forces during 1940-45. Joe Miére was a constant thorn in the side of the Nazi invaders and became a political prisoner and resistance leader who was often arrested, jailed, and beaten, for demonstrations, and for anti-German acts ...

She’s 42, with a broken past, and currently on a sabbatical from dating. He’s a year older, an established author, and he’s secretly intrigued by her. But so far, their encounters are met with friction, proving themselves to be more like enemies than lovers. Will his wit and charm win her over? Or will her strong will and determination draw a permanent line of division between them? Agnes Covington is a waitress by day and has high aspirations of starting her own food truck business. Who has time for men? At least that’s what she thinks.

A queer, feminist spin on Stephen King’s The Mist, this ode to female-rage is a perfect pick for fans of She Is a Haunting, and a reminder that if "boys will be boys", girls will fight back. For high school senior Nell and her friends, a vacation house on a private Florida island sounds like...

Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) was a writer, critic and journalist. His novel, Chita: A Memory of Last Island, is about a young girl, Chita, who survives a devastating tropical storm. Last Island, a holiday resort in the Gulf of Mexico, is destroyed by the hurricane that kills Chita’s mother and leaves her adrift at sea. Chita is saved and adopted by a Spanish fisherman, Feliu, and his wife, Carmen, a religious woman who perceives the baby as a gift from God.

After 'The Fox Fay', Jobe and Paracleus were apart, but now they're back together again and in love. The curse placed upon Paracleus has been broken and he remembers that he's a Fay, an elfin shapeshifter with plant magic. He recalls everything about his past, including his mother Pelua, who was banished by the Fay when she fell in love with a human warrior. After an epic battle between the new Knights of Arria and Doomba, Paracleus and Jobe fled through a portal. Now they're on a tropical island with their old friends Velmella and Liana, miles away from where they once were. On the other ...

Rachel has been in love with Alistair for fifteen years. Even though she’s now married to someone else. Even though she was a teenager when they met. Even though he is twenty years older than her. Rachel and Alistair’s summer love affair on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island has consumed her since she was seventeen, obliterating everything in its wake. But as Rachel becomes increasingly obsessed with reliving the events of so long ago, she reconnects with the other girls who were similarly drawn to life on the island.

A shipwreck on an isolated island. No food. No comforts. And only one player wins. Jack’s back, and in the thrilling conclusion to the End-User Jack series, his nemesis Mr. Smiley has thrown him into the deadliest contest yet. He’s up against a new game set in an unforgiving wilderness against a dozen adversaries competing to be the last player standing. But Jack is here to bring it all down. If he doesn’t defeat the game’s mad host, the tower will fall. It’s a final collision between the virtual and real as Jack fights to uncover Starvation Island’s biggest secret—the ...

In their own words, immigrants recall their arrival in the United States. Includes brief biographies and facts about the Ellis Island Oral History Project...

In 1947 Tilly’s grandmother bought an island. Its name is Småhølmene and it sits just off the coast of Norway. At first sight, the island seems bare, hardly more than a collection of rocks rising determinedly out of the water. Glittering and bittersweet, Island Summers lovingly portrays three generations of women and the island that became so irrevocably part of their lives. Now Mor-mor’s great-grandchildren are taking their turn, enjoying endless summers on Småhølmene, continuing the story that was begun over 50 years ago.

The Falklands War ended on June 14th 1982, 40 years ago today. I was a part of 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron at the time, and sailed down there immediately after a 3 month deployment in northern Norway, stopping on the way at Ascension Island, and stooging around the Atlantic Ocean while politicians decided why we were there in the first place. This is a short story of my memories of that time, some good, some bad, some humorous. I was a 22 year old soldier at the time, but many of the tales are still fresh in my mind. It was truly a life forming experience, and not one that you'd want to...

A timeless description of the beautiful island of Sicily by one of the great writers of Italy, translated into English for the first time. After forty years Edmondo De Amicis returns to Sicily for a grand tour of the island. Keen observer of both places and people, De Amicis gives us flowing accounts of its landscapes, history, and people. At each point in the journey, Messina, Palermo, the interior, the coastlines, Catania, Syracuse, and Taormina, he combines social and historical information with just enough detail to make you feel as though you are his traveling companion. Filled with ...