As I stood and listened, I asked myself why someone would come to such a wild, deserted place to sing. And hide there. That was the more important question. Why hide? The answer was the same one I’d given myself, over and over again, when I sat down to paint. Some things required solitude.

Candle Island, p. 62

Synopsis

Lucretia Sanderson and her mother move to Candle Island, a small, wild place off the coast of Maine, to find healing and solitude. Healing, after the car accident that killed Lucretia’s father. Solitude, to escape from the journalists who swarm Lucretia’s private artist mother. What Lucretia doesn’t expect to find is an abandoned osprey chick in need of a home, a mysterious boy who sings to the tide, and a deep animosity between the year-round island folk and the summer people. As Lucretia struggles to balance her desires for solitude and for finding a place among the island people, she will also get entangled in the mysteries and conflicts of Candle Island.

Review

Lauren Wolk never fails to write a book that breaks my heart, sweeps me off my feet, and settles into my bones like soft sand. Candle Island is fascinating in its exploration of art, artistry, and the idea of seclusion. It is a story that deeply values both community and solitude, and the way those two values conflict is a constant struggle for our heroine, Lucretia.

Lucretia is an artist who is wise beyond her twelve years, and it shows in the mature way she interacts with the natural world and the other people on the island. Her journey is less one of self-discovery and more one of learning how to share her character with the rest of the world.

Lauren Wolk’s signature lyrical prose shines in the lupine fields, pine forests, and rocky bluffs of Candle Island.