Gullstruck Island [Hardcover]

Frances Hardinge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2009

On Gullstruck Island the volcanoes quarrel, beetles sing danger and occasionally a Lost is born ...In the village of the Hollow Beasts live two sisters. Arilou is a Lost a child with the power to depart her body and mind-fly with the winds and Hathin is her helper. Together they hide a dangerous secret. Until sinister events threaten to uncover it. With a blue-skinned hunter on their trail and a dreadlocked warrior beside them, they must escape. Can the fate of two children decide the future of Gullstruck Island? Discover a dazzling world, a breathtaking heroine ...and an incredible adventure. For on the island of Gullstruck nothing is exactly as it seems! With a cast of larger-than-life characters, this is a richly imagined adventure no child will be able to put down or ever forget!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Frances Hardinge spent her childhood in a huge old house that inspired her to write strange stories from an early age. She read English at Oxford University, then got a job at a software company. However, by this time a persistent friend had finally managed to bully Frances into sending a few chapters of FLY BY NIGHT, her first children's novel, to a publisher. Macmillan made her an immediate offer. The book went on to publish to huge critical acclaim and win the Branford Boase First Novel Award. GULLSTRUCK ISLAND is Frances's third novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Pan Childrens (January 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405055383
• ISBN-13: 978-1405055383
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,803,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exhilarating, Harrowing, Astonishing . . ., March 22, 2009

By 

A. Gilbert - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gullstruck Island (Hardcover)

Exhilarating, Harrowing, Astonishing . . . Those are only a few of the appropriate adjectives for Francis Hardinge's latest novel, "Gullstruck Island." I can only think no one else has written a review yet because it seems presumptuous to comment on such an achievement. The characters--quiet, determined Hathin; the irresponsible seer Arilou; the Superior, buried beneath the weight of his ancestry; sly Jimboly; monumental Dance; and many, many others--stay in one's mind after reading. The themes--from the way we respond to overwhelming loss and the pitfalls of intercultural communication to scapegoating and the nature of attraction--are innumerable and interlinking, and the plot shows some facets easily while surprising with others. One wants to linger in reading in the knowledge that it will be a long time before another novel of this calibre is encountered, but dash through to alleviate the almost overwhelming suspense. But it is the beauty of the prose that is most noticeable. Emily Dickinson wrote something like, "If I feel that the top of my head is taken off, I know that is poetry," and there are more moments of that sheer, hair-raising astonishment at the deadly perfection of a turn of phrase and thought in this novel than any other in recent years. Many novels, including Hardinge's first, "Fly By Night," deserve 5 stars, but this is one of the rarities that is in an entirely different category altogether, requiring six or more stars. I only wish my review could capture some of the beauty and terror that fills this work.