The Last Summer by Sunday Times bestselling author Karen Swan, is the first novel in her new historical series, which is set in and around the Scottish island of St Kilda.
In 1930, hoping for a better life than their present existence on the mountain island of St Kilda, the residents are being evacuated to mainland Scotland.
For eighteen-year-old Effie Gillies it is a time of trepidation. She has proved herself the best climber on the island, much more skilled than any man. She longs to stay and study the rare array of bird life that seasonally breeds on the rugged cliffs.
That last summer Effie had acted as guide to the Lord Dumfries’ son, Sholto, taking him rock-climbing and pointing out nesting sites on the island.
They had become close as a result – perhaps too close!
After evacuating the island with her aged father, Effie is offered a position as curator of Dumfries House’s
ornithological collection due to her extensive knowledge.
Worlds apart socially, Sholto and Effie realise their attraction for each other must end.
As the island is being finally evacuated a body is discovered and, as the case is investigated, it seems
that Effie is implicated, and Sholto knows she’s been keeping secrets.
Will she face the ultimate punishment and lose all that she has fought for?
Apart from the individual characters, the dead body and ensuing investigations, this wonderfully descriptive novel is based on the true story of the last of the St Kildans, who were evacuated on 29 August 1930 aboard the HMS Harebell.
The decision to evacuate the island archipelago was taken because life there was becoming untenable. Traditional livelihoods of raising sheep for wool, spinning and weaving tweed, fishing, and harvesting of seabird eggs and oil, were becoming much harder to sustain.
Once on the mainland, they needed to find work and a place to live. Some were more fortunate than others. Many went on to work in forestry with islanders impressing with their semaphore abilities and climbing skills.
The descriptive skills of the author are true to life and interwoven with the fictitious intrigue of the relationships between the characters and the outcome of the mystery of the dead body.
The Last Summer is another wonderful novel from the highly popular author that will pull at the heartstrings while taking the reader on a suspenseful ride over rugged land, and unpredictable sea, until the very end.
ISBN: 9781529084375
The Last Summer is available in paperback and e-book
About Karen Swan
Karen Swan is the Sunday Times top three bestselling author of twenty-one books and her novels sell all over the world. She writes two books each year – one for the summer period and one for the Christmas season. Previous summer titles include The Spanish Promise, The Hidden Beach and The Secret Path and, for winter, The Christmas Secret, Together by Christmas and Midnight in the Snow Her books are known for their evocative locations and Karen sees travel as vital research for each story. She loves to set deep, complicated love stories within twisting plots. She is writing a five-book historical series called The Wild Isles, based on the dramatic evacuation of Scottish island St Kilda in the summer of 1930.
Leave a Reply