Book Synopsis:
How do you find love . . . when you have the loneliest job in the world?
This is the story of Gayle and Martin, who fall in love over the course of ten years- over a yearly visit to a tiny, isolated island off the Welsh coast.
Gayle is a teacher and each year she brings her class to the island to see the local flora and fauna, from sea birds to playful seals. Martin, the island’s caretaker and only human resident, lives in and maintains the lighthouse, which opens to the public for just this one day a year.
Gayle is effervescent but feels trapped, while Martin is lonely and isolated. As their love slowly builds over time, they both yearn for the annual field trip where they can finally see each other… Until one year Gayle doesn’t come back, and Martin has to leave his island hideaway to find her.
A romantic, tender love story, perfect for fans of Mike Gayle and Rachel Joyce.
My Review:
I’m a huge fan of this author and always look forward to new books from him. I loved this beautifully written, magical love story that had me reading far to late into the night. It’s going to be a hard book to review as I don’t want to give anything away.
The story follows Gayle and Martin over the course of ten years as they gradually grow closer together. I loved Gayle who I warmed to instantly. It was lovely to see her gradually let go and become the person she was meant to be. Martin was another lovely character who I felt very sorry for as he has a rather traumatic start to the book. He did frustrate me at times which caused me to put the book down for a few minutes while I calmed down but I think this is a sign that I cared about the character. It was beautiful to watch them slowly become closer and help each other through the rough times.
The Island setting was beautiful described so I felt I could really picture it in my mind. I loved that it seemed like another character at times, helping Martin and Gayle in their lives. I’ve always had a fascination with lighthouses (I blame Fraggle Rock from when I was little) and view them as a magical place which seemed fitting in this story where the island definitely has a magical element to it.
This book starts slowly as the author sets the scene but the beautiful story line and fabulous characters soon mean that the reader is thoroughly absorbed in the book. The story goes from being very emotional and heartbreaking in places to being laugh out loud funny in others. There are some bits which need to be taken with a pinch of salt but that’s part of the fun of David’s books in my opinion.
Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book. If you’re looking for an escapist, magical read then I highly recommend this book.
About The Author:
David Barnett is an author, journalist and comic book writer based in the North of England. Writing as David M. Barnett, his novels include CALLING MAJOR TOM, THE GROWING PAINS OF JENNIFER EBERT, THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER and in 2021 THE HANDOVER, to be published in the US in 2022 as SAME TIME, SAME PLACE. In December 2021 he pubished on Kindle the novel NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH. He is also the author of ALIEN: COLONY WAR and the GIDEON SMITH series of steampunk novels. His comics work includes, for IDW, EVE STRANGER and PUNKS NOT DEAD, for DC’s Sandman Universe BOOKS OF MAGIC, and he has also worked for Archie and 2000AD. As a journalist he writes mainly long-form features for the UK press including the Guardian, Independent, Big Issue, Tortoise, BBC Culture and more. He can be contacted via his website davidmbarnett.com or Twitter, @davidmbarnett
Over The Rainbow Blog 