Candle Island
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A moving portrait of loss and the restorative power of art from Lauren Wolk, the Newbery Honor-winning author of Beyond the Bright Sea.
Lucretia Sanderson has a secret.
Lucretia and her mother have come to tiny Candle Island, Maine (Population: Summer, 986; Winter, 315) to escape—escape memories of the car accident that killed her father and escape the journalists that hound her mother, a famous and reclusive artist. The rocky coast and ocean breeze are a welcome respite for Lucretia, who dedicates her summer days to painting, exploring the island, and caring for an orphaned osprey chick.
But Candle Island has secrets of its own—a hidden room in her new house, a mysterious boy with a beautiful voice—and just like the strong tides that surround the shores, they will catch Lucretia in their wake.
With an unforgettable New England setting and a complex web of relationships old and new, Candle Island is a powerful story about art, loss, and the power of being true to your own voice.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
To rebuild their lives following her father's death, artistic 12-year-old synesthete Lucretia Sanderson and her painter mother move to tiny Candle Island, Maine. Initially hoping for peace and privacy, they instead find themselves at the center of a simmering feud between the year-round islanders and the seasonal vacationers. The first-person narrative, set during an unspecified period without widespread cellphones and computers, twists through escalating small-town conflicts as Lucretia struggles to find her footing as an islander and decide how to define herself to others. This search for a new sense of purpose and self is most evident in her efforts to save, nurture, and raise a baby bird to maturity, a gentle and cozy narrative through line that mirrors the protagonist's inter-nality: "An all-or-nothing leap was the answer to the question of who ought to be. Nothing less will do." Wolk (My Own Lightning) immerses readers into the grounded storytelling via sensorial descriptions of Lucretia's synesthesia, while leisurely pacing provides space for quiet contemplation in this cathartic and deeply felt story, a resounding celebration of unconditional love and personal expression. Lucretia reads as white. Ages 10–up.
