A wonderful, historical epic romance between the characters of Chrissie and Fred. This page-turning story spans decades and charts their thwarted love following the evacuation of St Kilda in 1930. The descriptions of the rugged, remote Scottish landscapes add to the sense of romance and have made me want to visit to see what I have conjured up in my imagination for myself. Thank you for the advance review copy of this fabulous, escapist love story. It will linger strongly in my mind long after turning the last page.

Wonderful!
This moving and evocative novel remains with you long after the last page.
I feel privileged to have read this beautiful book and recommend it wholeheartedly.
Evert character felt like a friend, they were so well written. The description about the way of life on St Kilda was mesmerising and the destruction of the way of life heart breaking
Read with tissues at hand

This book features two of my favourite things: a Scottish setting and a dual timeline. Marketed as a love story, ‘The Lights of St Kilda’ was a wonderful surprise. Because it is so much more than just a boy-meets-girl love story. It is also the story of the last inhabitants of St Kilda and a heartfelt homage to them and how they endured in the most severe conditions on the remote and austere outcrop.

The book is solidly plotted and thoroughly researched, both as regards France in WW2 but also St Kilda during its last three years of habitation before the starving inhabitants reluctantly had to be evacuated, leaving their beloved island and traditional lifestyle behind to resettle – scattered - on the Scottish mainland. The description of the island and the islanders is evocative and heart wrenching. As is the love story of Chrissie and Fred, who are separated by forces outside their control but who are brought back together again against all odds.

Beautifully written with characters that leap off the page, it is above all else an empathetically told story of the people of St Kilda that is written so evocatively and imaginatively that at times I felt I was there on St Kilda walking the main street with Chrissie and Fred with the wind howling around us and birds crying above. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time. I recommend it unreservedly. 5 stars from me.

I had previously read Gifford’s ‘Secrets of the Sea House’ which again had a Scottish island setting (The Isle of Harris) and a dual timeline and I enjoyed that tremendously. Gifford is fast becoming one of my favourite writers and as I read my way through her back catalogue, I can’t wait to read the next book from this talented and creative writer.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#TheLostLightsofStKilda #NetGalley

Thanks to #Netgalley for eARC.

I loved reading about St Kilda and now really regret not taking the opportunity to visit when I was on holiday in Lewis last year. This is a story told from three points of view: Chrissie, a woman from the island, Rachel, her daughter and Fred, an airman fleeing through occupied France. Chrissie's story was the most compelling for it is through her that we learn of life on the island before it was evacuated. And what a hard life it was especially in winter with storms battering the island endlessly. Fred's story too is interesting both in seeing the island from an outsider's point of view and also through his time in France. Parts of the story I found a little unrealistic but overall I really enjoyed it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

If I find a more beautifully written novel than ‘The Lost Lights of St Kilda’ this year, then I’ll be a very lucky lady!


It’s 1927, and Cambridge university student Fred and his friend Archie arrive on St Kilda. Both are there to study, with Fred researching underlying rock formations in order to complete his finals. St Kilda, is a small island out in the Atlantic, a hundred miles from the mainland, and the most remote place in the British Isles, but far from finding the isolation too much, Fred loves it’s wild and windswept beauty, and the thought of having to leave at the end of the summer makes him feel really sad. However, there’s an even more pressing reason why he doesn’t want to leave, he’s fallen in love with 19 year old islander Chrissie Gillies. Both Fred and Archie will have reason to remember Chrissie in the years that follow, but for very different reasons.

The storyline follows Chrissie, Fred, and Archie throughout the intervening years, right through the Second World War, where Fred is serving with the Cameron Highlanders. His numerous escapes from captivity are told without fanfare, but the hazardous journey he makes through occupied France and over the mountains into Spain, hoping to make it back to Blighty, make for a tense, and at times, heart stopping addition to the narrative.


Though Fred hasn’t seen or heard from Chrissie for many years, its the images of her and the idyllic times they shared, that keep him going through his captivity and the brutality he suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Archie too, thinks often of Chrissie, as he carries secrets yet to be revealed, that prove ever more burdensome as the years roll by.

Now, far away from her beloved St Kilda, Chrissie thinks longingly of Fred, but neither knows where the other is. Will Fred survive the war? Will Chrissie ever get to say the things she should have said all those years ago?

Wow! The descriptions of St Kilda are nothing short of stunning, but the wild and natural beauty belies the fact that this was a community that was dying, and by 1930 after many years of struggle, and deprivation, Chrissie and the remaining islanders were evacuated. (Though the characters are fictional, this was a real historical event and is well documented). The intimate and exquisitely written detail of the evacuation is hard to read, and left me with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.

This is a stunning novel - the characters are wonderful, the storyline mesmerising, and be assured, if you choose to read ‘The Lost Lights of St Kilda’, you’re in for a very special read! I won’t forget this one in a hurry.

I loved this book. The descriptions of life on St Kilda were so evocative and well written. I could smell the smells and hear the birds crying. I could feel the hunger and the despair. I read an unproofed version and my only problem with it was that the dates in the headings were wrongly formatted so I only got one correct number. But after a while it was obvious where in the narrative the section belonged. It's a wonderful love story rather than a romance and one I shall be recommending to friends. With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read an e-ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

The story of the inhabitants of St. Kilda, a remote island in the Outer Hebrides, way, way off the north west coast of Scotland and two undergraduates, Fred and Archie, who lived amongst them one summer in the 1920s, researching the island and its geology. Fred meets 18-year-old Chrissie Gillies and they gradually fall in love but events conspire against them and Fred leaves St. Kilda. Three years later, the islanders, close to starvation and finally beaten by the harsh, isolated life and the exodus of all its young people to the mainland, leave the island for good.
Moving on to 1940, Fred, long believing he has been spurned by Chrissie in favour of his friend Archie, but never quite getting over her, is captured as a soldier in German occupied France. Managing to escape he is helped by the resistance and he reconnects with Archie only to learn the truth.
Having long been interested in the history of St. Kilda I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of the island, its people and their simple, harsh and dangerous, but also beautiful way of life. The switching between timelines was a little confusing, especially as my pre-publication proof copy had the dates obliterated! Hopefully, it will be easier to read when published. The plot was straightforward, with lies, betrayals and redemption all making for an atmospheric love story.

A fascinating insight into a different way of life very close to home. Another book I would put into the category of alternative war book as well as whilst it was set in this era the story around it was the main focus.

I really liked the characters and the vivid descriptions.

Thanks for letting me review this book

A sweeping ,intense and beautifully written double love story. That of the inhabitants and their love of St Kilda set alongside that of Christie and Fred who net on the island when he went their as a student with his friend Archie. Wonderful descriptions abound and made this compulsive reading. Life on St Kilda was not an easy one and the remaining inhabitants had to accept change after their evacuation. Christie faces loss of her beloved island and the love of her life Fred betrayed by his friend Archie. Fred faces the loss of Christie and has to endure the stresses of capture and then escape in World War 2 .
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would thoroughly recommend it

I really didn't enjoy this book. It was slow paced and I didn't engage with the story or characters.

What an incredible story of a lost way of life. This is an amazing read, so incredibly descriptive of the hardship endured by the people of St Kilda, before hunger and government inaction forced them to evacuate their island in the Atlantic Ocean. It portrayed beautifully the tightly knit community that it once was, with their very simple lifestyle, strong faith and endless capacity for hard work melding them together. Their story is uplifting and heartbreaking in equal measure.
The burgeoning romance of the young Chrissie and college boy Fred, come with his friend Archie to work on their thesis on the geology of the island was so tenderly described. Then Fred and Archie leave St Kilda, they go their separate ways and ultimately to war. Fred is kept alive by thoughts of Chrissie and haunting memories of their time on St Kilda, as he battles to escape occupied France.
This part is an enlightening picture of what Allied servicemen endured under occupation, and the unbelievable heroism and courage of ordinary people willing to risk their lives to help the servicemen escape.
The characters are beautifully drawn, and the descriptions so evocative, this story had me engrossed to the last page. It has inspired me to read more about the now uninhabited island of St Kilda, and the stoic people who once lived there. It is a story that will long remain in my mind.
My thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book. I could so easily have missed it.

Such a well written book. Lovely characters, beautiful setting. This book sucks you in takes you on a journey and spits you out wanting the story to never end. Beautifully written would totally recommend people read this.

A really good read. You can smell the sea air on st kilda and feel the desperation of the islanders.

I love a good historical novel and was literally swept away with this book. It’s very descriptive and I felt like I was walking the island with Chrissie. I liked both parts of the story, the descriptions of life in the 1920’s, following the last community to live on St Kilda before it was evacuated in 1930. But I also enjoyed Fred’s journey through war torn Europe, trying to get back to Chrissie who he had abruptly left over a decade before. When Fred came across Archie in Marseilles I did wonder if the story would have a happy ending and thankfully it did. It’s beautifully written and I’m excited to have discovered the author has written other books, I really like her style.

I loved this book although it took me a few chapters to get into it. But once that happened I didn’t want to put it down. My first book by the author but I now want to read more. A love story entwined with life on a remote Scottish island which I found very thought provoking and sad realising just how those folk lived. Their lives were lived in poverty but at the same time rich in human relationships. So I hope you enjoy reading about 2 young lives in a remote island during WW2. Thanks Elizabeth Gifford and NetGalley.

A poignant love story set in the last years of St Kilda's community. Life on Hirta has always been difficult and each victory is hard-won against mother nature. But just as the community is recovering from WW1 Chrissie an islander, meets two young men whose lives become entwined with hers. Their paths lead them to Hirta and WW2. This book has been beautifully written and will stay with me forever and has strengthened my resolve to visit St Kilda.

Oh to be transported to the Outer Hebrides, and the outer, outer Hebrides at that! This is a novel about the very, very small island and community of St Kilda. A remote, isolated and very unique island stuck in time and forgotten by it too. From the start there is a sense that this island is so cut off, even those who live there, forget there is a boat to the mainland at times. Weather of course, permitting.

The island really is the star of the show. You really get to know and feel it with its harsh winters and cold air, but its that sense of impending doom and the claustrophobia which increases as the novel goes along, which should really worry you.

The island is pretty much what you read about in the book in that the story and history is accurate. The author writes in her note at the end of the research and planning that went into this novel and it shows. A fascinating period of Scottish history which is easy to understand in novel form. This is a history of the people of St Kilda and the people are who you get to know close up.

Chrissie was a great character as we learn much about the island and life there from her. How the island and the mainland have formed and shaped her life. The other character I liked was Fred whose story with Archie who he met one summer is another focal point of the whole novel. He sees the island and the war through very different eyes and the two stories merge well to form a colouful and fascinating picture.

A stunningly beautiful and haunting novel. The writing is gorgeous and made it so easy to sink into the story. It's one that will stay with me for a long time. Truly special.

The sad haunting tale of the inhabitants of St Kilda before they were evacuated from the island.
This is also the story of a young couple Fred and Chrissie who met on the island and fell in love but were unable to stay together.
Years later when Fred is a prisoner of the Germans during the Second World War, his memories of St Kilda and Chrissie give him something to hold on to.
An atmospheric story that gives lovely descriptions of the island.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Lights is St Kilda

This story is a beautiful love letter to St Kilda and its people. It is a story of a way of life long gone but never to be forgotten.

This book follows the lives of the villagers in the last years of St Kilda before it was evacuated in 1930. It is told through the voices of Fred Lawson and Chrissie Gillies as it follows them from 1927 right through to the end of the Second World War. It is the story of lost love and the power of never giving up hope. It is a beautifully evocative story with the island of St Kilda taking centre stage.