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A review by spinesinaline
Skylarking by Kate Mildenhall
5.0
Wow. I expected good things from reading this blurb but this hit a lot harder than I anticipated.
Such a good read and a debut author too! I’m very impressed and this author is definitely going on my watch list. Also, a big thank you to Legend Press for a copy of this book!
I was immediately curious about this “true story” so I knew I had to get my hands on this book. This is historical fiction so while there are some parts of this true story that the author bases her book on, the characters she’s created seem much more her own than historical figures. There’s an afterword where the author explains what really happened in 1887 but don’t read it ahead of time because major spoilers! Read the book first – it’s definitely worth it, I promise.
From the outset, you can tell that the author is working towards a big reveal. Our MC, Kate, narrates the book from the present time, looking back on her childhood growing up on this island. She gives us small hints in her telling, though it’s up to the reader to make sense of these hints in the context of the story. The entire book feels pushed forwards by this foreshadowing. You know something bad is going to happen but you don’t know what and you don’t know when. I had a lot of theories when I started reading it and the author creates enough suspicion and mystery that there are many of misleading twists.
Though you’re waiting for this big drop, the story doesn’t solely focus on this mystery. It’s also very much a story about the friendship between the two main girls, and also perhaps of love and how the boundary between the two may be blurred. Kate and Harriet have grown up together in this small community and now as they approach adulthood, life starts to look a little different. Coming of age brings with it its usual difficulties, like crushes and jealousy, but it may also mean these two best friends will need to leave the island, and each other. I kind of wish this idea of love was pushed even further, or more directly talked about, but we do get much from Kate's narration to imagine this relationship.
The whole book is beautifully written but especially in the intense moments where we get to experience the whole range of emotions that are tormenting Kate, it feels tangible for the reader, something we’re experiencing right along with her. This is what really elevated the book for me; the emotions in this story seem to jump off the page.
While there will be some closure to the mystery at the end of this book, some things are left unanswered. Since we hear the story from Kate’s perspective, we only know what she knows so it’s understandable that we can’t understand everything fully. You’ll just need to draw your own conclusions about what really happened on this island.
My only complaint with this book is that I think it could’ve gone without an epilogue. Besides the final line, I couldn’t hear Kate’s voice in this section and it pulled away from the impact that was built up in the last chapters. It no longer felt like the Kate we had come to know throughout this book and I couldn’t reconcile this new woman with the image I had created in my head.
Such a good read and a debut author too! I’m very impressed and this author is definitely going on my watch list. Also, a big thank you to Legend Press for a copy of this book!
I was immediately curious about this “true story” so I knew I had to get my hands on this book. This is historical fiction so while there are some parts of this true story that the author bases her book on, the characters she’s created seem much more her own than historical figures. There’s an afterword where the author explains what really happened in 1887 but don’t read it ahead of time because major spoilers! Read the book first – it’s definitely worth it, I promise.
From the outset, you can tell that the author is working towards a big reveal. Our MC, Kate, narrates the book from the present time, looking back on her childhood growing up on this island. She gives us small hints in her telling, though it’s up to the reader to make sense of these hints in the context of the story. The entire book feels pushed forwards by this foreshadowing. You know something bad is going to happen but you don’t know what and you don’t know when. I had a lot of theories when I started reading it and the author creates enough suspicion and mystery that there are many of misleading twists.
Though you’re waiting for this big drop, the story doesn’t solely focus on this mystery. It’s also very much a story about the friendship between the two main girls, and also perhaps of love and how the boundary between the two may be blurred. Kate and Harriet have grown up together in this small community and now as they approach adulthood, life starts to look a little different. Coming of age brings with it its usual difficulties, like crushes and jealousy, but it may also mean these two best friends will need to leave the island, and each other. I kind of wish this idea of love was pushed even further, or more directly talked about, but we do get much from Kate's narration to imagine this relationship.
The whole book is beautifully written but especially in the intense moments where we get to experience the whole range of emotions that are tormenting Kate, it feels tangible for the reader, something we’re experiencing right along with her. This is what really elevated the book for me; the emotions in this story seem to jump off the page.
While there will be some closure to the mystery at the end of this book, some things are left unanswered. Since we hear the story from Kate’s perspective, we only know what she knows so it’s understandable that we can’t understand everything fully. You’ll just need to draw your own conclusions about what really happened on this island.
My only complaint with this book is that I think it could’ve gone without an epilogue. Besides the final line, I couldn’t hear Kate’s voice in this section and it pulled away from the impact that was built up in the last chapters. It no longer felt like the Kate we had come to know throughout this book and I couldn’t reconcile this new woman with the image I had created in my head.