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Island, Little Brown 1999 (Abacus 2000)

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The island is a place where things are not quite as they appear; a magical place where the murder of a reclusive woman is not a cut and dried case.

'I thought I had come to the island to wrest control of my life back from the woman who had sabotaged it. But I was wrong. My mother was still writing my plot.'

Nikki Black, intent on punishing the mother who abandoned her at birth, goes to the island with only one aim in mind: revenge. But her plans are confounded by the discovery that she has a brother. Not just any old brother, but a brother strangely possessed by their mother; a brother with a terrifying violent streak; an apparent simpleton whose head is filled with the stories of past islanders, crofters, Vikings, little people. A brother whose dangerous love and strange way of seeing the world transform Nikki's life.

From the reviews:

'Nikki is a triumphant creation . . . Jane Rogers is a wonderfully versatile novelist. There is indeed a house-style: one of economy, accuracy and controlled passion. But the authorial voice has a chameleon quality; she speaks with tongues. And the tongue here is persuasive indeed.' Penelope Lively, Independent

'There is a lot of delicious black comedy here . . . Then, there is the magic. This book reminds us of the power of stories, of their possibilities. It is the song Jane Rogers sings, and it is triumphant.' Sunday Telegraph

'An ambitious and important writer . . . You can't help falling under her spell.' Bliss Broyard, New York Times Book Review

'Heart-breakingly lyrical . . . It takes you into the heart of a dark wood, where there is no hope at all, and brings you out the other side, ready, if not to live happily ever after, then at least to begin to live.' Julia Blackburn, Guardian

' The book feels distilled, like north country moonshine, and flavoured with peat . . . with a primal, mythic quality. The pleasure is all in the journey, and the dark, briny, elemental world she creates. You can almost taste the salt on your lips.' Laura Miller, Salon.com

'Weaves a spell that glimpses another world' Sunday Times

Click here for Island interview for Houghton Mifflin Island publication, 2001

Read first chapter of Island