When I was contacted by the publicist involved with Lucy’s latest book I posed the idea of including a very special young lady, an avid book reader and total bookworm, who is the intended reader age for the book. Amelia is someone I love to bestow my love of books upon whenever the opportunity arises, though it is her mum and nanny who can take all the credit for nurturing her love of books and reading from a very young age, particularly reading for pleasure. I saw an opportunity to further encourage her love of books, by inviting her to read and review The Island at Edge of Night alongside me, and include her in the blog tour as a result, and what follows is this 8 year old reader’s insightful review.
Amelia:
When Amelia had got about half way through reading The Island at the Edge of Night she shared her thoughts saying the story is dark, mysterious and cold which is creepy. She says some of the gruesome details make her want to read more, (she said something about one of the characters dad, an axe and a scream… but hasn’t found out exactly what happened yet!). Amelia says so far she thinks its about dark secrets and making friends.
Upon completion of the book Amelia shared her overall thoughts of the book using a book review template (designed by Toppsta, which you can download here) with the help of her mum.
In completing the book review Amelia describes The Island at the Edge of Night as “Exciting, scary and spooky! but a very gripping, unputdownable book. From its drama to its breathtaking beauty I loved every word.” Amelia continues on by stating what she liked or disliked about the book saying that she “likes the descriptions of the scenes. It made it easy to imagine it in my mind” and also how she “liked that the ending wrapped up the story and answered most questions”, and finally adds that she “would of liked to of been told the ages of the characters for more detail”, which definitely explains why Amelia chose to ask Lucy exactly that information when asked if she has any questions for the author as we had the opportunity to interview Lucy as part of our stop on the blog tour. Amelia wrote her questions down for Lucy in her neatest handwriting! Note worthy is how Amelia says YES she would recommend this book (and in fact she plans to do so in school very soon), and Amelia gave this book 5 stars.
Interview with Lucy Strange
After reading an unforgettable book and feeling a connection to the characters and locations found within as a result, it is always such an honour to be in the position to pose questions to the author in order to get answers to things you have been left thinking about and have a desire to know precisely how the author intended things whilst writing, as well as other details that influenced and shaped the story and its contents. I am therefore delighted to share our interview with Lucy, which are a selection of questions created and asked by Amelia (age 8) and myself (Sam):
- Amelia asks Lucy:
– What books have you read that gave you ideas (inspiration) for the book?
This story was inspired by Scottish folklore, by some of my favourite Gothic authors such as Daphne du Maurier (who always creates such brilliant twists!), and by some non-fiction books too: The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben and Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard.
– What character is your favourite and why are they your favourite?
Oh I love Faye, but I think I have to say that Boudicca is probably my favourite. I love her bold, fearless manner. She’s such a big personality I had to limit the space she took up in the story as she’s just too much fun and she has a tendency to take over!
– How old are the characters?
Most of the children are between 11 and 14. Lord Gordon is older – around 16 years old.
- And I wanted to find out answers to the following questions from Lucy:
– Was there a particular scene or location that you most enjoyed writing about?
I loved working on the graveyard flashback, because I could really have fun with creating that atmosphere of confusion and horror. I loved playing with the secret passages in the abbey. Perhaps most of all, I loved the natural descriptions of the island – its strange, wild, bleak beauty.
– In the acknowledgements of the book you spoke of how this book took longer to write, which readers will appreciate when they’ve had the pleasure of reading The Island at the Edge of Night. Do you have any advice for younger inspiring authors?
Ooh lots of advice. I think it all begins with feeding your imagination – reading lots of good books, listening to audiobooks, watching films, visiting art galleries, spending time in nature. Then I think you need to train yourself to be a ‘noticer’ – spotting the little details in the world that other people barely see. Challenge yourself to find the perfect words to describe these things in your notebook. When you’ve got a good idea for a story, don’t be tempted to start writing too soon. Take time to daydream, to add other ingredients. Allow the story time to simmer…
– Did you have as much fun creating anagrams from characters’ names as we did reading them?
Yes! I love puzzles and anagrams. I’m a big fan of the murder mystery genre, and I just love this kind of interactive problem-solving fun in a story.
– Is there one particular place or person that inspired this story to grow within you, or was it something else that planted the idea of this incredible read in you to write?
The story was largely inspired by the dramatic landscapes of Scotland – the Highlands and the Hebrides islands. I find a lot of my stories begin with settings, and the stories develop from there…
– What is the key message you are portraying to readers in The Island at the Edge of Night?
There are lots of ideas in the story, but I think the biggest one is to do with our profound need to connect with each other, and to connect with nature too. Individually, and on a much bigger societal scale too – we cannot, we must not, be islands.
– The female protagonist, Faye, has an incredible journey within the book, and she truly finds her voice, how different was it to write about a character who isn’t communicating verbally all the time?
Yes, it was very interesting writing as someone so isolated and voiceless – it was intense actually. And I had to be very careful to develop Faye’s confidence gradually and convincingly, as she starts to trust the other children and as she begins to have faith in herself.
– The other children on the Island alongside Faye have some unique names, how did you determine them?
I have a lot of fun with the names of my characters and there are often meanings connected with their names. Faye, and its similarity to the word fae, for example. Or Nurse Violet – which connects with her floral perfume and pink lipstick, but is also – very nearly! – the word violent… Some characters I played with for a long time until I was happy with them. I go through a lot of different names until I feel they are completely right. On the other hand, Boudicca just marched into my imagination fully formed and that was that!
– There are many topics interwoven in this book, and you bring them all together beautifully to give the perfect conclusion to this story at the end, and I wondered how you keep a track of the various threads being plucked at and sewn as the story progresses, as you have an incredible talent for writing such depth and detail in your books, this being the latest example. What is your recipe for success?
Gosh – thank you. I think it probably just comes down to the amount of time I spend allowing the story to simmer, adding ingredients and seeing what bubbles up to the surface! So it’s a bit like a sort of witch’s stew! I do several big re-writes. I keep a lot of notes. I always use mood boards and art work to infuse the atmosphere of the story. I think the managing of multiple threads probably comes down to my love of the mystery genre. To me a story just isn’t satisfying unless there are clues and twists and connections and surprises. And I love developing important themes, weaving them carefully through the story and using them to connect different elements together. I think a good children’s book should be enjoyable for readers of all ages. It should be like a good cake: many-layered, rich and satisfying!
- You can check out mine and Helen’s reviews of The Island at Edge of Night here.
The Island at the Edge of Night by Lucy Strange (£7.99, Chicken House) is available now. Check out the rest of the blog tour across X (Twitter) via information on the banner below. Myself and Amelia would like to extend a HUGE thank you to Lucy Strange for taking the time to answer our questions, and also to Lorraine Keating and Chicken House for this opportunity.
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