by John Boyne
Part of The Elements
First published 2023
Vanessa Carvin steps off the boat and immediately becomes someone else. She tells the islanders her name is Willow Hale, a woman seeking solitude in a remote cottage far from Dublin. The locals see a quiet outsider who keeps to herself. They don't know she's running from a scandal that destroyed her marriage and reputation. Her ex-husband stands accused of terrible crimes. The question that follows her across the water cuts deep: if he truly is the monster everyone believes, what does that make her? Vanessa chose to stay silent during years of marriage. She made decisions that now demand answers. The island offers distance from her old life, but it cannot shelter her from the weight of her choices. In her cottage by the sea, she must examine what she did and what she failed to do. Only by facing these truths can she learn whether she deserves the peace she seeks.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction, psychological-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, introspective, melancholic, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fresh-start, moral-ambiguity, running-from-the-past, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Dublin, Remote Island, Cottage by the Sea
Period: Contemporary
Paperback · Doubleday
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence