Coastliners

Joanne Harris's new novel is set on the windswept French island of Le Devin, which is located off the Vendee coastline. The story opens as painter Mado Prasteau returns to the island of her birth after a long absence. She and her mother, who is now dead, left the island years before while her estranged father, the boatbuilder Jean Prasteau, remained. Mado, like jetsam, finds herself inexorably pulled back to her childhood home. In fact the mantra of the novel itself becomes 'everything returns'. Mado comes home to a lukewarm welcome from some of the islanders, who form an intensely close and unforgiving community, including her father who has become even more reclusive and uncommunicative during her absence. Gradually Mado finds herself drawn into the war of resentment brewing between her own fishing village, the sea-battered Les Salants, and the prosperous tourist town of La Houssinere, which boasts the only sheltered sandy beach on the island. She also finds herself attracted to the mysterious newcomer Flynn, who has, unusually, endeared himself to the Les Salants folk. Harris skilfully weaves a story of warring communities, turning tides, forbidden love and sibling rivalry in a community bound by tradition and superstition. Many of the villagers' lives have been touched by tragedy as they have lost loved ones to the wild and unpredictable sea. As ever, Harris keeps the reader turning the pages as her story unfolds and her vividly drawn characters come to life. The real hero of the story, however, is the island of Le Devin itself whose shape resembles that of a sleeping woman and who, though no beauty, inspires fierce loyalty and love among its inhabitants. (Kirkus UK)