The Visitors by Simon Sylvester is a haunting little book which conjures up myth and fact in such a way that the reader is uncertain which is which. Flo is in her last year of school. She lives on a remote Scottish island and travels to school by ferry to the mainland. Her long term boyfriend has escaped the island for Uni and promptly dumped her. Flo is a loner and likes it that way. Then John and Aisla move onto Dog Rock just off the island and Flo and Aisla are drawn together because they recognise something of themselves in one another.
As a school history project Flo chooses to write about selkies, seal like creatures of myth. She finds a book in a jumble sale with stories about selkies with lurid pictures which haunt her. She speaks to Izzy, a beachcomber and he tells her more stories about selkies. Flo is drawn in to the whole myth-thing while also feeling an attraction for John, Aisla's mysterious father, a man who is still trying to find his missing wife. In his room are charts recording missing people from various islands, including two from Bancree where Flo lives. Also her step-father's best friend, Anders, has now gone missing.
Suspicion falls on John when the police find out that his movements trace the pattern of the missing people and that he was suspected of killing his own wife after he moved away. He then changed his name. Flo believes in John and Aisle and heads for Dog Rock to warn them that the police are coming. But things start to go wrong as Flo heads for the sea to swim to the rock. And who exactly is Issy? What has he been hiding? And John and Aisla - who are they really? Are they actually selkies?
This is a first novel. I did struggle with the first page as I wasn't sure who's viewpoint I was reading but once I'd cleared that up I enjoyed this. Mysterious and haunting. Something different.
As a school history project Flo chooses to write about selkies, seal like creatures of myth. She finds a book in a jumble sale with stories about selkies with lurid pictures which haunt her. She speaks to Izzy, a beachcomber and he tells her more stories about selkies. Flo is drawn in to the whole myth-thing while also feeling an attraction for John, Aisla's mysterious father, a man who is still trying to find his missing wife. In his room are charts recording missing people from various islands, including two from Bancree where Flo lives. Also her step-father's best friend, Anders, has now gone missing.
Suspicion falls on John when the police find out that his movements trace the pattern of the missing people and that he was suspected of killing his own wife after he moved away. He then changed his name. Flo believes in John and Aisle and heads for Dog Rock to warn them that the police are coming. But things start to go wrong as Flo heads for the sea to swim to the rock. And who exactly is Issy? What has he been hiding? And John and Aisla - who are they really? Are they actually selkies?
This is a first novel. I did struggle with the first page as I wasn't sure who's viewpoint I was reading but once I'd cleared that up I enjoyed this. Mysterious and haunting. Something different.
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