Skein Island, a private refuge twelve miles off the coast of Devon, lies in turbulent waters. Few receive the invitation to stay for one week, free of charge. If you are chosen, you must pay for your stay with a story from your past; a Declaration for the Island’s vast library.

What happens to your Declaration after you leave the island is none of your concern.

From the monsters of Ancient Greece to the atrocities of World War II, from heroes to villains with their seers and sidekicks by their sides, Skein Island looks through the roles we play, and how they form and divide us. Powerful and disturbing, it is a story over which the characters will fight for control.

Until they realise the true enemy is the story itself.

Thanks to Titan Books for having me along for the Instagram tour for Skein Island, the new novel by Aliya Whiteley!

This story starts off with a series of strange and upsetting events for a woman named Marianne. She’s a librarian, and she’s just received a very mysterious invitation to Skein Island, a private women’s resort. Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, Marianne’s mother also received such an invitation seventeen years prior…but she never returned home after her trip to Skein Island.

No sooner does Marianne open the invitation, she is then confronted by an armed intruder, a situation that results in trauma & a massive disruption in the lives of Marianne, and her husband David.

The story alternates between Marianne’s and David’s POVs, with Marianne’s in first person and David’s in third person.

Skein Island started off somewhat strong for me, but then it kinda lost me a little bit in the middle. There was definitely some great ambience to the story, and an overall sense of weirdness, and creeping dread. It just didn’t totally work for me in the long run. YMMV.