The Island House

One warm, rainy summer, Freya Dane, a PhD candidate in archeology arrives on the ancient Scottish island of Findnar. Estranged as a child from her recently dead father, himself an archaeologist, Freya yearns to understand more about the man, his work on the island and why he left her mother so many years ago. It seems Michael Dane uncovered much of Findnar’s Viking and Christian past through his search for an illusive tomb, and Freya continues his work. The discoveries she is destined to make, far greater than her father’s, will teach her the true meaning of love and of loss.

AD 800, and a wandering comet, an omen of evil, shines down on Findnar. The fears of the locals are justified. In a Viking raid, Signy, a Pictish girl, loses her entire family. Taken in by survivors of the island’s Christian community, she falls in love with an injured Viking youth left behind by the raiders and is cast out. Confused and bereft,eventually she becomes a nun, a decision that will unleash tragedy as she is plunged into a war between three religions. Forced to choose among her ancestors animist beliefs, her adopted faith and the man she loves, Signy will call out to Freya across the centuries. Ancient wrongs must be laid to rest in the present and the mystery at the heart of Findnar’s violent past exposed.

In time the comet will return, a link between past and present. But for these two women, time does not exist. For them the past will never die. It has waited for them both.

The author does a great job of alternating between past and present.  I was invested in both stories, hating to leave one, but wanting to know what was happening in the other.  I loved Signy's story and want to read more books that take place in this era. The relationship between Freya and Dan got off to a strange start, but their discoveries out shined it.

Author: Posie Graeme-Evans
Published: June 202
Pages: 448
Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction
Source: Diana Franco/Atria Books
Finished: 7/22/12



This complimentary review copy was received thankfully from Diana Franco and Atria Books/a division of Simon and Schuster and in no way influenced my review of this book. These are my personal thoughts and reactions to the reading of the book.