Where the World Ends
By Geraldine McCaughrean
Teen Fiction
I wasn’t sure I wanted to read this book because one Lord of the Flies is enough for me. However, I persevered, and I can highly recommend this teen fiction. It is unlike anything I have ever read. The book is based on a true story from 1727 in which a group of men and boys are dropped off on an uninhabited sea stack near St. Kilda, Scotland, in order to harvest birds and eggs. Someone from their island is supposed to pick them up after a period of time, but summer passes, and no one comes to get them. The title of the book derives from where the story takes place (the end of the world) and that the boys think it’s the actual end of the world because only the ending of the world accounts for their not being rescued.
The writing is wonderfully evocative of the place and time. I particularly enjoyed the voice of the main character, Quill. It’s definitely a book for the older reader because of some subject matter and also because the dialect can be tricky in places. A very good read.
Reviewed by Julia C (Circulation)
