First published 2007
Meline and Jocelyn lose their parents in an accident and find themselves shipped off to live with Uncle Marten, a relative they have never met. His home sits on a remote private island littered with crashed aircraft and broken dreams. The girls learn that their new home once served as a military aviation facility where a deranged commander forced eleven pilots to fly without instruments, killing them all in his mad experiment. Uncle Marten shares the island with an aging Austrian housekeeper, a butler whose past remains hidden, and two pets. The strange household cannot fill the emptiness left by their parents' death. Four voices tell this story of people wrestling with loss in their own ways. Each character searches for meaning after tragedy has shattered their world. Horvath explores whether starting over remains possible when grief defines everything.
Genres: fiction, adventure, mystery, contemporary, psychological-thriller, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, grief, loss, starting-over
Setting: Austria, Island
Period: 20th-Century
272 pages · Hardcover · Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Content warnings: death