Island of Lost Girls [Audio Cassette]

Jennifer McMahon (Author), Christina Moore (Narrator)

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: RecordedBooks (2008)
• ISBN-10: 143616415X
• ISBN-13: 978-1436164153
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)

More About the Author

I was born in 1968 and grew up in my grandmother's house in suburban Connecticut, where I was convinced a ghost named Virgil lived in the attic. I wrote my first short story in third grade. I graduated with a BA from Goddard College in 1991 and then studied poetry for a year in the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College. A poem turned into a story, which turned into a novel, and I decided to take some time to think about whether I wanted to write poetry or fiction. After bouncing around the country, I wound up back in Vermont, living in a cabin with no electricity, running water, or phone with my partner, Drea, while we built our own house. Over the years, I have been a house painter, farm worker, paste-up artist, Easter Bunny, pizza delivery person, homeless shelter staff member, and counselor for adults and kids with mental illness -- I quit my last real job in 2000 to work on writing full time. In 2004, I gave birth to our daughter, Zella. In 2005, we left the woods (for now), and moved to Barre, Vermont -- producer of one-third of all the granite gravestones and mausoleums in the US.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic follow-up, April 27, 2008

By 

Annie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Island of Lost Girls: A Novel (Paperback)

I loved Promise Not to Tell, so I 've been looking forward to this book ever since I heard it was coming out. At the same time, I was a little worried about a letdown, that it wouldn't live up to the first book. No worries! Island of Lost Girls does not disappoint! If anything, I liked it even more.

Like Promise Not to Tell, it takes place in Vermont, and is about a woman who has to revisit her past when she's involved in a crime in the present. This time, the woman is Rhonda, a recent college graduate still hung up on her childhood sweetheart, Peter (who's married and has an adorable daughter), and the crime is a very weird abduction that Rhonda is the only witness to. She gets involved in the investigation, and starts thinking back to mysteries of her own childhood, when she, Peter, his sister Lizzy, and a feisty girl named Tock were inseparable.

Once again, McMahon does an incredible job building suspense and keeping you guessing, while also creating believable, moving characters and relationships in an almost gothic atmosphere. She explores notions of bad choices, evil, and forgiveness in a heartbreaking, but ultimately hopeful way. I can't wait for the next book!

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jennifer McMahon is a Genius!, May 2, 2008

By 

MRose "smaurie" (Springfield, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Island of Lost Girls: A Novel (Paperback)

I was not aware that this book had come out and when I saw it at Borders I immediately scooped it up. After being thoroughly entranced with Ms. McMahon's previous effort "Promise Not to Tell", I knew I would love this book as well. She has such a knack for fluid story telling, extremely well fleshed out characters and an uncanny ability of being able to draw you in from word one. Her subject matter is disturbing but that's life as we know it. This is a little slip of a book, only 255 pages but it is jam packed with suspense, atmosphere and plot twists that are sometimes slowly revealed and sometimes thrown right in your face. Had I the time I would have devoured this book in one sitting. I will again be waiting eagerly for the next Jennifer McMahon. Do not miss this author.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5-star read full of suspense and heartbreak, April 25, 2008

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Island of Lost Girls: A Novel (Paperback)

Rhonda Farr is 23 and on her way to a job interview. Rhonda is sitting in her car outside Pat's Mini Mart in Pike's Crossing, waiting to fill her car up with gas. Trudy Florucci pulls up and runs inside the Mini Mart, leaving the motor running and Ernie, her little girl in the car. A gold-colored VW pulls into Pat's Mini Mart, driven by a large white rabbit. Before Rhonda can get over her shock at seeing a rabbit driving the VW, Ernie has jumped out of her mother's car and rode off with the rabbit. Rhonda is guilt ridden because the child has disappeared, and she took no action whatsoever to try and stop the abduction.

Pat, the owner of Pat's Mini Mart, has set up a "Find Ernie Headquarters." Rhonda is one of the volunteers. The disappearance of Ernie has caused Rhonda to take a trip back to her childhood and memories of Peter, Lizzy and Tock, her childhood friends. The group built a stage and produced Peter Pan. Rhonda's family and the families of her friends gathered for social activities. Thinking of these times reminds Rhonda of many mysteries in the past. The disappearance of Peter's father, as well as that of his sister Lizzy, is a memory Rhonda dwells on.

Island of Lost Girls is a book full of suspense and heartbreak. It is also a peek into the wonderful imagination of children and their private little world. The ending is shocking, sad and happy, too. I would highly recommend this book.

Armchair Interviews agrees.