📖 Book Review ~ The Island of Mists and Miracles by Victoria Mas

Doubleday 
14 March 2024

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

 

In 1830 a young novice called Catherine Labouré was granted a vision of the Virgin Mary. Nearly 200 years later, Sister Anne is also waiting for a sign.

Which is why she accepts a mission to go to a tiny community on an island just off the coast of Brittany. Her only companion there is a sceptical, chain-smoking older nun who just wants to be left in peace.

On the island she meets Hugo, the son of a devout family who prefers to look for the meaning of life amid the stars; Madenn, a grandmother whose daughter was killed in a crash and who finds meaning in routine; Isaac, Madenn's grandson, an otherworldly teenager who doesn't fit in but who befriends Hugo, and Julia, a sickly child. If anyone needs a miracle, it is her.

But it is not Sister Anne who receives a vision. Instead it is Isaac who is found on a promontory, transfixed, unable to utter more than the words 'I see'. The event soon becomes headline news and the world descends on the small island, opening old wounds and unleashing a chain of events none of them could have foreseen.

📖 My Review..

Leaving behind her French convent Sister Ann arrives on a tiny island just off the coast of Brittany. On the island she prays for a miracle to happen, a sign that the Virgin Mary has a special message for her, however, it is not Sister Anne who receives the heavenly vision but a troubled young islander called Isaac. With intense scrutiny focused on the Île de Batz, and religious fervour reaching fever pitch, emotions run high with disastrous consequences.

The cast of characters who flit into and out of the story bring their own particular angst. They are not always very likeable as people however, as their individual stories start to emerge so an understanding comes of why they act in such a troubled way. Some of it due unrelenting grief which, over time, has altered their perspective. I enjoyed the way in which the author allowed the story to evolve at its own unhurried pace.

Beautifully written, with a lyrical quality to the narrative, The Island of Mists and Miracles is a short but powerful story about the starkness of belief and of heightened emotions which result in unreasonable jealousy, thwarted frustration and unleashed anger.

About the Author

VICTORIA MAS The Mad Women's Ball, Victoria Mas's debut novel, has won several prizes in France (including the Prix Stanislas and Prix Renaudot des Lycéens) and was the bestselling debut of the year. Victoria has worked in film in the United States, where she lived for eight years. She graduated from the Sorbonne in Contemporary Literature. The Mad Women's Ball is now an Amazon Prime Video Original Film starring Mélanie Laurent and Lou de Louâge.

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