Candle Island Lauren Wolk

"Six mysteries waited for me on Candle Island.

One involved a bird.

The second a hidden room.

A song the third.

A poet the fourth.

A cat fifth.

A fire sixth.

Each of them exciting in its own way.

But none more interesting than the mystery I took there with me."

Begin with the cover - I really like it and after reading this book you will want to go back and see how an important story element has been incorporated into this illustration. 

Here is the quote on the opening page - it is very pertinent to this story:

"As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight." James McNeill Whistler

I think sensitive readers (with some reading stamina) aged 10+ will really enjoy Candle Island. I had no idea this story was set in the 1970s (see the Kirkus review).  I loved the island setting and the way Lucretia and her mum were keeping the identity of the artist of their famous paintings a secret kept me turning the pages knowing that they were sure to be discovered. I was also happy that there was no twist at the end and that the bad things that happened on the island were all down to those awful rich kids as Lucretia, Bastian and Murdock suspected. If you look at the labels I have assigned this post you can see the plot covers a lot of things - Lucretia finds a wounded baby bird (an osprey) and she nurses him back to health; there are three summer kids who are dreadful bullies; there is an art theft; the island is small and suspicious of strangers; Lucretia and her mum are experiencing terrible pain after the death of her father; and each of the three island kids has a special talent. Oh, and I do need to mention two more things - mum cooks delicious food in this book and I adore the town librarian (I think I need to make a list of books that feature very special librarians).

Curious readers might want to know more about osprey birds after reading this book. Also Lucretia is named after Lucretia Mott - a Quaker suffragist and anti-slavery campaigner. You might also want to learn more about the scale of being or the Great Chain of Being. 

Candle Island is set on an island - I know that is obvious - so I was not surprised to read Lauren Wolk lives on Cape Cod. I really enjoy visiting islands and I enjoy books set on islands and even though I have not been there for some reason Maine, USA has a special fascination for me.

Here are some text quotes:

"When I let myself spill onto the canvas like melted wax, I built a world where I felt exactly right, entirely who I really was. Free. Unwatched. Alone."

"He was singing a story. A sad one that suddenly became something else and then something else again, the colour changing as the story did, from a radiant magenta to some kind of violet. And then a gold I rarely heard."

"When I hit the water, my head exploded. Every particle of my body panicked. It was as if I'd been injected with frozen mint. As if my skin was size too small. As if I'd been scoured with a wire brush dipped in acid. All of that, all at once."

The town librarian - notice the placement of the word beautiful: "She was old. Thin. In a black dress with a lace collar. Her hair was a beautiful white, twisted into a crown on top of her head. Her skin was the same deep brown as my eyes. ... At her full height she was smaller than I was, but she seemed much taller."

"The most common form of despair is not being who you are - Soren Kierkegaard"

There are certain authors for children that are capable of the kind of writing that is not merely full of strong character growth and interesting plotting, but legitimately lovely prose as well. On a single page I found lines that end with glimpses of a “bruise-blue sea.” Or, when Lucretia thinks about befriending the prickly Murdock, she is thinking of, “How adding even a little yellow to the coldest gray could warm it toward something altogether new. But Murdock was a girl, not a painting. I would have to remember that.” I mark in my copy of this book the lines I like best. What’s remarkable about them is how seamlessly they’re integrated into the plot. Betsy Bird SLJ

And bottom line, this is a beautiful book set on a beautiful island off the coast of Maine. It will linger in your heart. Sonder Books

Wolk’s latest novel wonderfully portrays new relationships while tackling grief and self-discovery. The characters are well developed, and readers can see parts of themselves and those they know. The book also has several small mysteries that readers will be itching to solve. While a work of historical fiction, the story has the modern feel of a quiet life without current technology and trends. School Library Journal

Here is an interview with Lauren Wolk.

I spied this book some weeks ago and knowing how much I loved every previous book by Lauren Wolk, I added it to my 'to read' and 'to buy' list. Luckily for me this book has appeared in the library where I work as a volunteer, so I borrowed it and read it over one or two days. This is a longish book with 340 pages, but the print size makes it easy to read and of course Lauren Wolk creates a page turning story with characters you really care about. The library has a copy because this book was sold as a Scholastic Australia Book Club title (issue 5, 2025 AUS$12). We are having extreme rain conditions in my city and so today (after some very necessary chores) I snuggled down beside my heater and finished read Candle Island.

Publisher (Scholastic Australia) blurb: Lucretia and her mother have come to tiny Candle Island, Maine (Population: Summer, 986; Winter, 315) with a secret to keep ... and to escape—escape memories of the car accident that killed her father and escape the journalists that hound her mother, a famous and reclusive artist. The rocky coast and ocean breeze are a welcome respite for Lucretia, who dedicates her summer days to painting, exploring the island, and caring for an orphaned osprey chick. But Candle Island also has secrets—a hidden room in her new house, a mysterious boy with a beautiful voice—and just like the strong tides that surround the shores, they will catch Lucretia in their wake. With an unforgettable New England setting and a complex web of relationships old and new, this is a powerful story about art, loss and the power of being true to your own voice.

There is a huge error in my Scholastic Australia copy of this book. This book was originally published in hardcover by the Penguin Young Readers Group [9780593698549]. My copy in paperback is a new 'edition' BUT the imprint page does not acknowledge the original publisher or date of publication AND the author's name is spelt incorrectly as Wolke. This is funny but also disturbing. 

Other books I have loved by Lauren Wolk:

Wolf Hollow

My Own Lightning

Beyond the Bright Sea

Echo Mountain

My Own Lightning by Lauren Wolk

The year is 1944. Annabelle, her two brothers, mother, father, grandparents and Aunt live on a farm in rural Pennsylvania. Everyone works hard - the children and adults - they are a good team. As a result everyone enjoys the rich produce produced by their farm including strawberries and peaches! 

It is Summer and Annabelle has walked over the the school house to help her teacher with some cleaning. On the way home there is a huge storm and Annabelle is struck by a bolt of lightning. 

"I was standing there, rigid with fear, when suddenly the air fizzed around me, as if I'd been dipped in wasps. In an instant, those wasps stung me all at one, every inch of me, inside and out, and I knew nothing at all except a sizzling pain in my head, a sharp dreadful heat, a sharp emptiness in my chest, and a kind of ending."

As she gains conscientiousness she feels rough hand pushing her chest. Later she feels her father carrying her home and oddly her every sense is heightened. Things smell stronger, noises are louder, her skin feels sensitive to all kinds of touch. 

"I could small the rain as I'd never smelled it before: both clean and tarnished, like hot meal and plowed dirt and pond rot all mixed together.  ... the smell of the people. Their end-of-the-day sweat. A sweetness that brought to mind my grubby little brothers. A sourness that was, perhaps, the scent of my grandmother, who was unwell."

Even more strangely, Annabelle now seems to have a deeper sense about animals especially dogs. She can sense how they feel. This is important because this is how Annabelle comes to meet her neighbours and helps her find three lost dogs and an old loved dairy cow. 

This is a story about healing. Terrible things happened to Annabelle and her friend Toby last year. She rightly blames Betty (but she is gone now) and Andy. Andy still lives nearby. Annabelle wants to hate him forever but somehow he keeps showing up. Perhaps Annabelle needs to stop and listen to Andy with her heart. Bad things are happening to this boy and yes he has done some terrible things but surely there can now be a way to find forgiveness.

My Own Lightning is the sequel to Wolf Hollow and while it will be good for readers to meet Annabelle and have some understanding of the dreadful events in this first book but I am going to say you can read My Own Lightning first and then go back to Wolf Hollow. Reading My Own Lightning first might actually be a good idea because Wolf Hollow is so harrowing (but nevertheless wonderful) if you read My Own Lightning you will experience a resolution to all that pain. Read this review for more plot details of Wolf Hollow. 

Lauren Wolk's writing is powerful, honest and profound. Read these exquisite text samples:

"Above us, the branches trimmed the sun so it lay in patterns on the road, a tawny ribbon of soft summer dust and worn-out stone, the whole day so perfect that the birds made up new songs about it as we passed by."

"As I looked at her, I wished I were a painter. Though I would have had to be a good one indeed to capture the look in her eyes. Hard and sweet at the same time."

"I could imagine that hitting Buster (in a truck) must have been an awful thing for them both. And I knew that even the best people sometimes looked for someone to blame when things went wrong."

When an author describes a character it sometimes only takes one word or a short phrase to alert the reader that something is amiss:

"He had a well-trimmed moustache, though no beard - which was unusual in these hills, where the two usually went hand in hand - and green eyes, my favourite kind. A big man, especially across the shoulders, with a barrel chest, like a lumberjack. Except he was dressed more like someone from town, in clean, tidy clothes, his cuffs buttoned, the kids of hat my father wore to church. The word gentleman cam to mind but his eyes were curiously flat, and I had a vague suspicious that he might not be quite what he seemed."

Compare this with Dr Bloom:

"He didn't smell like a flower, either. He smelled far to clean to be anything wild. And he didn't look like a flower either. He had parched brown hair, eyebrows that looked so much like caterpillars that I expected them to crawl off his forehead, and a thick shiny scar that ran down the side of his face. But none of that mattered as much as his kind eyes and soft voice."

I recommend this book for readers aged 11+. If your young reading companion is a dog lover please be aware (spoiler alert) the descriptions of dog fighting in this book and the wounds inflicted on these innocent creatures is quite graphic and disturbing. 

Written with warmth, Wolk’s complicated characters keep readers guessing. Annabelle learns tough lessons about making assumptions and building trust on the path to forgiveness. Kirkus

This is a journey of the heart that takes us through the pain of someone else's life and shows us that what people show us isn't even half of who they really are.  Powerful lightning indeed. A Book and  Hug

We often talk about the first lines in a book but in this book the lines that made me sigh with happiness come right at the end. 

AND the food in this book is scrumptious. I loved reading about a family who enjoyed delicious meals prepared with love and care.

"I helped put supper on the table: sliced beets we'd canned the year before, mashed sweet potatoes with butter and cracked pepper, hot buns stuffed with roasted carrots, and thick crusty slices of applewood bacon. ... but save room for dessert. My mother made a strawberry pie with shipped cream."

"Potatoes ... steaming quietly in a bowl in the sink, cooked and soft waiting for someone to peel away their loosed skins. So I did that, dicing them in a second bowl, adding in chopped onion, celery that I had sliced into little green boats, boiled eggs I diced in the palm of my hand, mayonnaise whipped up with cream, salt, pepper, all of it folded carefully together so the potatoes would keep their cut, a bit of Hungarian paprika sprinkled on top. ... (I) added a platter of cold fried chicken, a bowl of dilly beans we'd canned the year before, a basket of warm rolls."

I would like to suggest this very old Australian novel as a companion read (sorry this might be very very had to find). Here are a set of different covers

I was curious about Andy's favourite book Honk the Moose and delighted to discover it is a real book. I was a Newbery honour book in 1936. 

Here is the US cover for My Own Lightning:

Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk

"Life is a matter of moments, strung together like rain. To try to touch just one drop at a time, to try to count them or order them or reckon their worth - each by each - was impossible. To stand in the rain was the thing. To be in it. Which I would do. Which I would do to make my father well ... "


Ellie's family have moved Echo Mountain following the stock market crash we know as The Great Depression. Father was a tailor but mother explains "people who have no money don't pay a tailor to make their clothes, and they don't buy new ones when the ones they have will do."  Mother had been a music teacher but with less children at school, less teachers were needed.  The shop is closed, the house is sold and the family move to a remote forest location near Echo Mountain. Life is hard for the whole family but they work together to build a cabin and find ways to trade with neighbors. Then comes the terrible accident. Father is badly hurt and lies in a coma. Mother, older sister Esther, little brother Samuel and Ellie try to keep going. Tending to their own needs and keeping father comfortable and quiet. But it is this quiet that is frustrating Ellie. She is sure her father needs noise, action and discomfort - anything that might make him wake up. Ellie, herself, carries a huge personal burden. She is sure the horrific accident is her fault and it seems her sister thinks so too.

There are tiny moments of happiness for Ellie in spite of all this sadness and guilt. Their dog Maisie has pups. One pup appears "dead" but Ellie does not bury the pup as her mother has instructed, instead she plunges him deep into a bucket of cold water and brings him "back to life". It is the first time, as a reader, we see Ellie has a gift of healing. An instinct or inner voice that will become so important over the coming weeks. Ellie loves her pup and she decides to name him Quiet.  "I like that (said Samuel) ... It's a heartbeat name."

Other moments of happiness for Ellie come in the form of tiny wooden carvings which appear as precious gifts hidden in places around the forest, their home and even in her jacket pocket.

The mystery of these little treasures is connected with an old woman who lives on the top of the mountain. People call her the "hag" but Ellie needs to learn the truth about this old woman. Making the journey up the mountain, meeting the carver, a young boy called Larkin, with his own sadness, and finding the old woman along with the discovery of her own talents, will have consequences which almost feel miraculous.

I adore Ellie. She has a deep emotional intelligence and a love of nature and her mountain. "I myself was two opposite things at the same time. One: I was now an excellent woods-girl who could hunt and trap and fish and harvest as if I'd been born to it. Two: I was an echo-girl. When I clubbed a fish to death, my own head ached and shuddered. when I snared a rabbit, I knew what it meant to be trapped. And when I pulled a carrot from the earth, I, too, missed the darkness."

Every word in this book is liquid gold. I read huge numbers of books each year and mostly I can read a novel quite quickly especially if the story is good. With Echo Mountain I did not want to read quickly. I did not want to miss any of the exquisite words. I did not want this story to end. I did not want to miss any story fragments. As I read Echo Mountain I filled the pages with little book tab stickers so I could go back and savour each precious passage. There is a beautiful truth and raw honesty to the writing of Lauren Wolk which at times left me breathless.

Here are a few text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing:

"Those gifts had been meant for me. I was sure of it. Which meant that whoever was making them knew me and understood that I was the kind of girl who would love finding them tucked in the corners of my world, all of them carved from good hardwood, all just short of alive."

"Being a middle child made me good at turning the other cheek, But being good at something didn't make it easy."

"Then I left the shed and walked up the path and, after a bit, into the woods, through the hemlock grove so full of shadows that almost nothing grew between the trunks of the old trees, the deep layer of dead needles underfoot like the soft coat of a great, sprawling animal that didn't mind the weight of me."

"... the little cabin was filled with other things as well. On one wall: shelves of books in all colors and sizes, like the keys of a new instrument I badly wanted to play."

"She was right - it wasn't much of a spring. But when I pushed the jar flat in the moss where the water bubbled out of the rock, a pool rose and flowed into its mouth as if the jar were the thirsty one. The water was cold and clear and, as I sampled it, delicious. Like poured winter. Fresh, Perfect."

"We have done our best ... But I fear that Esther and I are not meant for this kind of life.' She met my eye. 'Not like you seem to be.' Which was both praise and accusation. Enough bitterness to spoil the sweet."

"I turned back to my father. I hated the way his skin pulled hard across the bones of his face, as if someone were making him into a drum. As if he were hollow. As if someone was supposed to hit him to make any music at all."

I also need to mention the bees in this story. I so appreciated that Lauren Wolk did not alter their natural responses. There are no magic moments with these bees. Ellie does need their honey but taking the honey means she is stung and stung badly. I felt every hurt and every sting.

Now take a look at the two covers. Which do you like? The top one is from the UK edition and the lower one is from the US. I much prefer the US cover because it hints at all the story elements - bees, stars, bottles of healing plants and the little pup called Quiet.

Character driven and a work of literary art and hope and all about the amazing spark that flickers and burns in each of us. This is wonderful. A Book and a Hug

Carefully paced and told in lyrical prose, characters … are given plenty of time and room to develop against a well-realized, timeless setting. A luscious, shivery delight. Kirkus Star review

There’s a loneliness to the kind of life Ellie leads, but the trade off is that she feels truly free. Hand this to the kid that yearns for that freedom. For wide-open spaces and mysterious figures hiding in the shadows and snot nosed brothers and lots and lots of puppies.Hand it to someone who needs their own mountain. Even if it’s just a literary one. Elizabeth Bird School Library Journal

I hope you can find Echo Mountain in a library or bookshop. This is a book to treasure. The Wall Street Journal said this is a book for our uncertain times that will soothe young readers like a healing balm. Here are some other wonderful books by Lauren Wolk which I have mentioned previously:

Beyond the Bright Sea

Wolf Hollow

I would follow Echo Mountain with Black-Eyed Susan by Jennifer Armstrong; Shiloh by Phyllis  Reynolds Naylor; and Shine Mountain by Julie Hunt.

Beyond the bright sea by Lauren Wolk

"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Not a thing," he said.  "I'm just looking at you.  Exactly as you are right now. And not because you'll change, though you will of course. ... But because if I could have built a human being, I would have built you.  Just so."
Nobody had ever said anything that good about me.

I seem to be locked on an island at the moment.  This is the second book I have read recently with an island setting.  I adored Lauren Wolk's previous book Wolf Hollow.  Beyond the Bright sea is a slightly more gentle book as Crow, a little girl who washed up on Cuttyhunk, the outermost of the Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts, struggles to make sense of her origins and identity.

Crow is found in a boat, all alone.  She is taken in by the reclusive Osh.  He has moved to this remote island many years previously to escape has past.  While we never really know what happened to Osh it is very obvious that his love for little Crow has made a huge contribution to his healing.  On a nearby island Maggie watches this man and little child and she gradually gains his trust and joins in with the care of Crow.  She is also an excellent cook and is able to provide delicious and nourishing meals exactly when they are needed.

Across the water from Cuttyhunk is the island of Peikese which has previously been the location of a leprosy hospital. The hospital has closed but the people on Cuttyhunk are suspicious that Crow might carry this frightening disease.  She is shunned by the islanders but this just fuels her own curiosity about Peikese and it's history.

Crow convinces Osh and Maggie that she needs to visit the island and see the hospital for herself. Osh does not want to go there. He feels their life is settled.  No need to go looking for the past but he does eventually agree to sail over.  While the three of them are exploring, Crow hears a thud.  She is suspicious that someone might be trapped in a building on the island.  They meet a man who they think is the bird keeper but he seems odd and hostile and the three of them rush back to their boat and sail home.  Crow cannot get this thud out of her mind.  The three of them will need to make a return visit to the island and quickly.

The intrigue builds when Osh gives Crow a small collection of objects that came in the boat when she washed up all those years ago.  There is a fragment of a letter, a ruby ring and her feather shaped birth mark.  On the island there is a grave for a baby and also a carving of this same feather.

Here is an interview with Crow herself  - it is sure to make you smile and you can read an interview with Lauren Wolk too.  Here is a review with more plot details.

I feel lucky that I have visited Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket so I do have some sense of the setting for Beyond the Bright Sea.  If you enjoy the idea of island life or you want to read a good mystery look out for Beyond the Bright Sea.

This book will make people want to run away to the Elizabeth Islands. Kirkus

Leprosy, pirate gold, orphans, shipwrecks, lost messages, they all crowd the pages and leave you coming back for more. Wolk actually knows how to write for kids, and not just that, write beautifully. SLJ Betsy Bird

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

New York Times : The book’s narrative builds suspensefully toward an ending that’s wrenching and true, and in its final pages, Annabelle learns to abide by life’s complexities.

Kids Book Review : Gripping, heart-breaking, thought-provoking, profoundly moving and ultimately uplifting, Wolf Hollow is a book that I know I will read again.

Early in Wolf Hollow there are two scenes that will linger with me for a long time.

"Betty picked up a stick from along the path. It was dead wood, but I could tell from how she held it that it was still heavy. 'Tomorrow you bring me something or I'm going to beat you with this stick."

I rarely do this but after reading about Annabelle's first encounter with the bully Betty I just had to skip to the last chapter to make sure everything 'turned out okay'. I am happy to report the reviewer from the School Library Journal Elizabeth Bird did the same thing. I recommend reading the SLJ review now as it makes all the points I planed to raise but far more eloquently.

Back to the bully and her actions.  I knew there would be several possibilities for the ending of this book. The bully could be reformed and even make friends, the bully could leave, someone might die or worse - there might be no resolution. I won't spoil the ending but having glanced at the last few pages I then had the 'strength' to keep reading.

The other scene that worried me, enough to make me stop reading yesterday, was when I read that Annabelle had decided not to tell her mother, or any other adults about her vicious tormentor, at least at first.

"If I told her she'd have to go to her friends, the Glengarrys, and tell them their granddaughter was a hooligan ... And despite the face that she'd been able to fix nearly every broken thing in our lives, mother could not promise me that Betty would not come again, even angrier - or, worse, go after my brothers - if I tattled on her."

The time is 1943.  Fear of others bought about by the war has begun to permeate this remote rural community.  Annabelle is eleven and her carefree childhood is about to be shattered.  Her family are loving, hardworking and compassionate people. Toby is a loner - wounded in body and mind by his experience of the First War.  Annabelle sees beyond the scars and shyness.  She follows the example of her mother offering kindness to this man.  This will be both lucky for Annabelle but have devastating consequences for Toby who quietly observes the serious harm inflicted by Betty.  This is a story about betrayal, hidden lives, truth and lies.  Listen here to the first ten minutes of the story.

You can read more about vicious bullies and the reactions of children who are forced to cope with their violence in books such as Fearless by Tim Lott and The Present takers by Aidan Chambers.   I would also link this book with The Crazy Man by Pamela Porter.

Read more review comments here.  Horn Book have published an interview with the author.

"If life was to be just a single note in an endless symphony, how I could I not sound it out for as long and as loudly as I could?"