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Longlisted for the Orange Prize 2012.
1830. Neil and Lizzie MacKenzie, a newly married young couple, arrive at the remotest part of the British Isles: St Kilda. He is a minister determined to save the souls of the pagan inhabitants; his pregnant wife speaks no Gaelic and, when her husband is away, has only the waves and the cry of gulls for company.
As both find themselves tested to the limit in this harsh new environment, Lizzie soon discovers that marriage is as treacherous a country as the land that surrounds her.
1830. Neil and Lizzie MacKenzie, a newly married young couple, arrive at the remotest part of the British Isles: St Kilda. He is a minister determined to save the souls of the pagan inhabitants; his pregnant wife speaks no Gaelic and, when her husband is away, has only the waves and the cry of gulls for company.
As both find themselves tested to the limit in this harsh new environment, Lizzie soon discovers that marriage is as treacherous a country as the land that surrounds her.
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Reviews
'A beautiful story of love and loss, precise, subtle, spiritually alive' Andrew O'Hagan.
'Karin Altenberg's debut novel is an impressive work of research and descriptive writing about Nature and place in a second language ... a penetrating insight into the psychology of a religious zealot and a relationship rolling inevitably towards destruction' Country Life.
'Compelling' Daily Mail.
'This is an accomplished debut, beautiful and compelling' Good Book Guide.
'Stunning' Guardian.
'Emotional intensity is foregrounded and the nuances of Neil and Lizzie's relationship are set out in the writing like a heart on a sleeve ... Neil's psychological flaws are convincingly drawn' Guardian.
'I was enchanted by the magic of the storytelling. This is a novelist with a future' Michael Holroyd, New Statesman.
'Her literary achievement is astonishing ... A superb book' Scotsman.
'This lovely, haunting novel evokes the rough beauty of St Kilda ... A story of faith and love' The Times.