by Geraldine McCaughrean
“On a diet of oily soup and ice-fringed, sleepless nights, their goodwill was failing and falling back inside their bodies, unable to reach their eyes to look out, or their mouths to smile, or their throats to speak.”
St Kilda is an isolated Scottish archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, situated 41 miles west of Benbecula. It is bleak, sometimes beautiful, its sea cliffs the highest in the country, its narrow ledges and mighty stacs (large outcrops rising sheer-sided out of the sea) the most important breeding ground for seabirds in north-west Europe. It is also the remotest part of the British Isles.
For thousands of years, until 1930, a community of no more than 180 indomitable souls inhabited the largest island: Hirta, where they built sturdy stone houses to be shared with their meagre livestock during the long winter months. They led desperately gruelling lives in a place so wild and inhospitable that trees refused to grow; surviving only on limited food crops such as barley and potatoes and on cheese made from sheep’s milk. They were generally unable to fish due to the mountainous seas but sustained themselves by hunting the island’s profusion of birds – gannets, fulmars and puffins forming a major part of their diets. These were caught by ‘fowlers’ who lowered themselves on ropes from the sheer clifftops or by scaling the towering stacs from their boats.
“Warrior Stac grows bigger the closer you get. You would swear it was pushing its way upwards – a rock whale pitching its whole bulk into the sky, covered in barnacles, aiming to swallow the moon.”
It is in this storm-battered, inaccessible part of the world Geraldine McCaughrean has set her latest novel, aimed at younger readers but equally likely to appeal to adults. Based on a true story, it begins on Hirta in August 1727 with a fowling party setting sail for Warrior Stac (properly known as Stac an Armin) to harvest “the summer plenty: bird meat, eggs, feathers, oil…”
A group consisting of nine boys and three men is put ashore on this, the tallest sea stac in Scotland. The party is to remain there for a few weeks, as generations before them have done, but this year, no one returns to take them home.
St Kildans were a race of God-fearing people who set great store by a concoction of superstition, omens and religious doctrine, and as the weeks turned into months they convinced themselves that nothing short of the end of the world had caused their abandonment. They were starving and frozen with only each other for comfort. Why hadn’t they been rescued? How could they hope to survive a winter on this exposed lump of rock amid a seething ocean?
As both thalassophile and someone fascinated with remote islands, I was inevitably tempted by the promotional blurb on the back cover of Where the World Ends. I seldom read narratives aimed at young adults, mainly because I know so little about the them (perhaps because I went straight from reading children’s stories to adult fiction almost overnight) but I’m immensely gratified McCaughrean’s 2018 CILIP Carnegie Medal-winning historical novel appeared on my radar. Why? Because it is simply one of the best books I have read this year.
It is at once disquieting and compelling, funny and unbearable; a tale of survival in punishing conditions, recounted by Quilliam, an adolescent boy with a gift for telling stories. This beautifully written book will, I know, be one to which I continue to refer (and no doubt reread) in the future. I wholeheartedly recommend it to readers of any age.
“…it was spring, and spring engenders hope in every creature, from the tideline to the mountain peak.”
Many thanks to Usborne Publishing for gifting a copy of this title.
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Great review 💖
Thank you so much, Priyasha. 😊
Lovely review, Paula. I borrowed this from the library and am very much looking forward to reading it. Even more so now!
Thank you, Anne, I don’t read anywhere near enough children’s/YA books, which is a pity because I enjoyed this one immensely. I so much hope you like it after me heaping it with praise. If you post a review anywhere, please do let me know as I would be very interested to see your thoughts.
Of course, I will let you know.
A word has me scrambling for the dictionary- “thalassophile”- I hope not everyone is familiar with that one…how could I dislike a review which teaches me something new?
Thank you, John. 😃 A ‘thalassophile’ is a lover of the sea. It describes me so well. 🐟
Great review, Paula, and a book which goes to my TBR 🙂
Thank you, Ola. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 😊
I think I’d enjoy this, too, Paula! Wonderful review!
Many thanks, Jennifer. I didn’t know what to expect of it – it had been sitting on my shelves for quite some time. The author was also new to me, but it was a great read. 😀
I can’t wait to read it, Paula. All I want to do today is read The Silence of the Girls!
I’ve got everything crossed you’ll enjoy it!
Sounds gripping, Paula. There is an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Australia, which is called St Kilda (even a football team) and it is nothing like the real deal!
That’s really interesting, Gretchen. I think I read somewhere that a group of St Kildans emigrated to Australian (possibly in the 19th century but I would need to check). I bet that’s the connection with the suburb and footie team!
Oooh, I think you’re probably right, Paula. I forgot to mention that our St Kilda is right on the beach, part of Port Phillip Bay, but has lovely sand and colourful bathing huts.
I’ve had a quick shufty about and apparently 42 islanders emigrated to Australia in the 1850s. Many of them died en-route, but a few settled in Melbourne. So there you go. Well spotted, Gretchen! 😃
That’s wonderful, Paula, I learned a bit of our joint history. I can only imagine the hardships they must have faced, brave pioneers.
They were incredibly tough people – they had to be to survive on St Kida – but I imagine disease probably carried some of them off on these long journeys. It’s no wonder you Australians are such a doughty bunch! 😉
As my father used to say ‘tough as old boots’!
Hah! We have that expression, too! 😃
Great review. I will be sure to read this book now!
Thank you, Lindsay. Hope you enjoy it!
Sometimes survival books/stories put me off because they’re just usually typical and full of death, but this one sounds great, from the way you reviewed it.
Thank you, Ayunda. I can’t pretend there won’t be deaths but the book is far more about these young boys surviving the ordeal.
I don’t normally read books aimed at young adults, but this does sound excellent. I may have to expand my horizons!
Neither do I, though I’ve pushed myself to read a couple of children’s titles this year. The subject matter drew me to this book (St Kilda), and I was impressed by the way in which the author very cleverly wove all known facts into the narrative (not that you need to be aware of this to enjoy the story). I would love to give you one very good example regarding a now extinct seabird but I fear it would be a spoiler too far. I hope others enjoy it as much as I did. I always worry people won’t like something after I’ve given it a particularly positive review. Perhaps I’m not cut out for this book critiquing lark! 🤔
I won’t hold it against you Paula! I always have the same worry, and I know some bloggers have not enjoyed books they’ve read after I gave a glowing review – eek! But that’s the joy of the blogosphere, we’re all different 🙂
Phew! Thank you, Madame B. 😅
Hello Paula. This review put me in mind of a novel I read years ago: The Voyage Of The Narwhal, by Andrea Barrett. It’s terrific. Here’s a link to it —
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/763952.The_Voyage_of_the_Narwhal
Take care.
Neil S.
Many thanks, Neil. I’ll definitely check this one out.