Island Memories

Teacher Charlotte Kingston is sent to close a school on an isolated Scilly Isle where she used to spend holidays with her grandparents. But when two visiting children find themselves in need of a place to stay, Charlotte agrees to care for the boys, and decides to keep the school open a little longer. Hearing about her family from the islanders, Charlotte starts decoding her grandmother's old letters from WWII, and a story emerges of forbidden love and a brave man who would risk everything for his country, even giving up the woman he loved.

In 1947 Tilly’s grandmother bought an island. Its name is Småhølmene and it sits just off the coast of Norway. At first sight, the island seems bare, hardly more than a collection of rocks rising determinedly out of the water. Glittering and bittersweet, Island Summers lovingly portrays three generations of women and the island that became so irrevocably part of their lives. Now Mor-mor’s great-grandchildren are taking their turn, enjoying endless summers on Småhølmene, continuing the story that was begun over 50 years ago.

Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) was a writer, critic and journalist. His novel, Chita: A Memory of Last Island, is about a young girl, Chita, who survives a devastating tropical storm. Last Island, a holiday resort in the Gulf of Mexico, is destroyed by the hurricane that kills Chita’s mother and leaves her adrift at sea. Chita is saved and adopted by a Spanish fisherman, Feliu, and his wife, Carmen, a religious woman who perceives the baby as a gift from God.

When Jenna returns to Sandover Island after her mother's death, her past and future intersect in ways she couldn’t imagine. Specifically with her high school nemesis, Jackson. As much as she'd like to, Jenna can’t seem to avoid Jackson's smirking and frustratingly attractive face. She doesn’t know why he’s pulling this new, nice-guy act, but she isn’t buying. And if it isn’t an act, Jenna might really be in trouble.

When Mallory Barrows finds an old diary in a box of books, the story she finds within sends her on the hunt for the owner—and maybe more. Theirs is a story ripped from a country song. A wedding, a former love presumed dead, her new love stepping aside. And over 40 years later, their story is one few remember. With Mallory determined to find the people in the pages of that diary, one couple is offered the second chance of a lifetime.

In their own words, immigrants recall their arrival in the United States. Includes brief biographies and facts about the Ellis Island Oral History Project...