This Other Island - Steffanie Edward

Genre: Historical Fiction | Womens Fiction

Release Date: Expected 21st May 2021

TW: Mentions of police brutality, racism, death and Illness.

Ruthie had a happy life in St Lucia with her auntie until she was five and a half years old. Then out of nowhere, she was made to return to England where her birth parents had been waiting and she became Yvette Angelina Francis.

Now everything is changing for Yvette again; her now estranged Papa is in the hospital and his secrets are finally ready to come to the surface - forty years ago, he believes he killed a man while defending his wife on the boat to England and it's haunted him ever since. He wants to know the truth in case the worst should happen - but one secret often hides a hundred more.

The Other Island is a beautiful debut novel - masterfully written and enchanting; a true-to-life story about race, family, home, and the true meaning of identity. Yvettes was one of those narrators you connect with right away, and going through the story with her own dialect and mannerisms she was entirely, honestly herself.

As we slowly uncover the many secrets of Yvettes family, it turns into a convoluted, confusing spiderweb of lies that made me take a step back to try and take in the whole picture - and once I did it threw things I'd never expected and brought me to tears.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Steffanie Edward, Bookouture and NetGalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

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