Blog Tour: The Island Home by Libby Page

Today is my stop on the blog tour for the wonderful The Island Home by Libby Page. Thanks to  Ellen at Orion for sending me this stunning finished copy of the book! 

Lorna's world is small but safe.

She loves her daughter, and the two of them is all that matters. But after nearly twenty years, she and Ella are suddenly leaving London for the Isle of Kip, the tiny remote Scottish island where Lorna grew up.

Alice's world is tiny but full.

She loves the community on Kip, her yoga classes drawing women across the tiny island together. Now Lorna's arrival might help their family finally mend itself - even if forgiveness means returning to the past...

So with two decades, hundreds of miles and a lifetime's worth of secrets between Lorna and the island, can coming home mean starting again?

Alice lives on the Scottish Isle of Kip with her husband Jack and their daughter Molly. It's a small island with a big heart, a vibrant local community in a stunning location, but one that is facing an uncertain future. Lorna, Jack's sister, fled the island twenty years ago and lives a lonely life in London with her daughter Ella. When circumstances bring her back to the island it's time for her to face up to her past, to reconnect with her brother, and to discover where her future lies. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story is told from the perspectives of both Alice and Lorna, who are both very likable narrators. The Isle also boasts a wonderful cast of distinctive supporting characters, exactly the kind of resilient people you'd imagine living on an island like Kip. It's a tight-knit community who all depend on one another. The real star of the show is of course the island itself. Remote and adrift from civilisation - it is literally its own little world with its own unpredictable climate. I could feel the breeze, taste the salt, picture the sun setting over the sea. You also get a real sense of the isolation that the islanders experience, of the struggle to maintain their way of life and preserve it for future generations. It takes a certain kind of person to thrive in a place like that.

At over 400 pages this is a hefty novel for its genre, but as a result you really get to know the characters. By the end I almost felt part of the island community myself and was sad to have to leave it behind. 

The Island Home is a heartwarming tale of family, friendship and community. A story of second chances, of finding yourself and of coming home. I'd like to move to the Isle of Kip tomorrow please!

*For more content on this wonderful book follow the blog tour hosted by all of the lovely book bloggers listed below!*