Island of Wings

Summary (from the publisher): A dazzling debut novel of love and loss, faith and atonement, on an untamed nineteenth-century Scottish island. Exquisitely written and profoundly moving, Island of Wings is a richly imagined novel about two people struggling to keep their love, and their family, alive in a place of extreme hardship and unearthly beauty. Everything lies ahead for Lizzie and Neil McKenzie when they arrive at the St. Kilda islands in July of 1830. Neil is to become the minister to the small community of islanders, and Lizzie-bright, beautiful, and devoted-is pregnant with their first child. As the two adjust to life at the edge of civilization, where the natives live in squalor and babies perish mysteriously, their marriage-and their sanity-are soon threatened.

Review: Set in the 1830s on the remote Scottish island of St. Kilda, this novel follows Neil and Lizzie McKenzie, who have come to the island for Neil to serve as minister to the small community of islanders. As their family grows, the two try to adjust to a life at the edge of civilization. But even the extreme isolation of their life cannot help them turn to each other and their marriage is increasingly strained. Likewise, Neil feels immense stress about his perceived lack of progress with his parishioners. who continue to have superstitions and beliefs that he finds pagan. 

This is a fictionalized portrayal of the historical lives of the real Rev. Neil and Lizzie McKenzie and is based on letters and recorded history. The author's research into and interest in the historical lives of natives of St. Kilda is evident from the writing. Going into reading this book I knew nothing about the island and appreciated learning more about its history through this well researched novel. However, at times it does read more like a history text than a novel, as the author does spend significant time describing the practices and dwelling of the islanders in an almost non-fiction-like way: "Gibean was the most common meal on St Kilda and, to her, the least palatable - being comprised of the fat extracted from boiled fulmar mixed with that of the young gannet. This grey matter was eaten with rye bread and porridge and considered greatly nutritious by the natives" (49). 

This book is about Lizzie and Neil's individual struggles to find their meaning and purpose within the harsh landscape of the island. It is also very much a story of their marriage and its survival despite its flaws and strained existence. St Kilda itself shapes every aspect of this story, forcing Neil and Lizzie to turn to each other because they have no alternative. In most ways, Neil is a difficult character to like and there seemed to be no resolution to his conflicted inner life, that throughout the book keeps him from developing a close bond with his wife and children. His harsh demeanor is echoed by the harsh climate of the island, making it hard to imagine how Lizzie survived for so many years with such little resources for her mental health or even socialization. Little mention of their lives outside of the island, including references to family members, made the island feel like a world to itself. 

Lizzie and Neil's story is a sad one, primarily because of their largely unhappy marriage. The lives of the St Kildans was also sad, plagued by drownings, accidental deaths, and the high infant mortality on the island, not to mention the scarcity of resources and primitive living conditions. I enjoyed learning more about the history of the island through this well documented novel, but the story told within its pages was bleak, with little insight into the characters' true inner life. 

Stars: 3