Christmas on the Island: A Novel

Flora lives and works on the island of Mure in Scotland. A remote little place, it’s a tight knit community where it can be very difficult to keep a secret. Flora finds that she has a rather big secret to keep, her pregnancy. It isn’t that she doesn’t want to tell the father, but he’s an emotionally tender person who has been through the foster care system and bears some scars. They love each other, but she fears the baby might not be the kind of unexpected surprise he can handle.

The book also follows the stories of Flora’s brother and his dying husband, as well as her best friend who pines for the sad refugee father of two that has taken over the position of town doctor.

The book gives the indication of being a cozy Christmas story set on an idyllic Scottish island, however, there is less cozy holiday sentiment and more deeply scarred relationships. It was a difficult book to get through because it definitely didn’t deliver what the cheery cover promised. The relationships in the book all carried their own dysfunction and emotional trauma. Each set of characters were raw and hurting. A good book, but not what it looks like.