A hugely imaginative and inventive fantasy, Gullstruck Island is the wonderful creation of a whole new world in which some of the strangest things happen. Arilou is a Lost, a special child who has the ability to mind-fly with the winds. It’s a valuable but dangerous asset and Arilou hides a dangerous secret. Can she and her sister keep the secret and also keep themselves safe from their trackers on the island where volcanoes quarrel? ~ Julia Eccleshare
Chosen as one of Time Magazine's 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time, Gullstruck Island is a vibrant and exciting novel, in a beautifully imagined setting, by Frances Hardinge, the Costa Award winning author The Lie Tree.
On Gullstruck Island the volcanoes quarrel, beetles sing danger and occasionally a Lost is born . . . In the village of the Hollow Beasts live two sisters. Arilou is a Lost - a child with the power to depart her body and mind-fly with the winds - and Hathin is her helper. Together they hide a dangerous secret, until sinister events threaten to uncover it. With a blue-skinned hunter on their trail and a dreadlocked warrior beside them, they must escape, or risk everything. Can the fate of two children decide the future of Gullstruck Island?
Frances Hardinge spent a large part of her childhood in a huge old house that inspired her to write strange stories from an early age. She read English at Oxford University, then got a job at a software company. However, a few years later a persistent friend finally managed to bully Frances into sending a few chapters of Fly By Night, her first children's novel, to a publisher. Macmillan made her an immediate offer. The book went on to publish to huge critical acclaim and win the Branford Boase First Novel Award. She has since written many highly acclaimed children's novels including, Fly By Night's sequel, Twilight Robbery, as well as the Carnegie shortlisted Cuckoo Song and the Costa Book of the Year winner, The Lie Tree.
