This Book Tells the Story of Lorna who lives in London and has a Teenager daughter Called Ella, its’ just the two of them against the world one day Lorna gets a call to say that she needs to return to the Tiny Remote Scottish Island , The Isle of Kip where Lorna Grew up and left nearly 20 years ago.

Alice lives on the Island of Kip and is Also Lorna Sister In law but has Never met Lorna in Person due to Lorna Leaving the Island of Kip Mysteriously nearly 20 years years ago.

This Book touches on the subject of why Lorna Left so Suddenly , why she hasn’t returned in so long and why her relationship with her Brother Jack is so Damaged due to Lorna Leaving suddenly .

This Book also touches on its not too late to fix things and have fun ,

You will go from crying to laughing reading this book .

Without giving any spoilers away what we learn from this book is why Lorna Left, and about building relationships again will the community and her Brother and sister In Law and Niece

I absolutely loved this book and have already preordered a copy from my local independent bookshop and would recommend everyone reads it.

With thanks to Netgalley & Orion Books for the Arc of this book in exchange for this honest review.

5 out of 5 Stars

Out on 24th June 2021.

I enjoyed The Island Home and found it an easy read. Lorna has left her childhood island never to return until she finds that her teenage daughter has been in touch with her cousin on the island and wants to go back for the funeral of Lorna’s parents. Alice is married to Lorna’s brother and loves the island and everything it gives her. She needs to try to broker peace between Lorna and her brother.

A great setting and good description with good characters.

This is the third book written by Libby Page, her previous novels, The Lido and The 24-Hour Café are favourites of mine, so when I received this as an eARC from Netgalley I was thrilled. I was not disappointed as her writing is getting better and better.
The Island Home is the story of two reuniting siblings. Lorna and Alice. Lorna and her daughter Ella, live quite independently in London. After being brought up on a remote island in Scotland, city life couldn’t be any different but Lorna’s childhood on the island was something she didn’t want to remember. When there is a need to return to the island for a family bereavement there is a definite reluctance to return to the community that she felt treated her as an outcast when she was a child. With Ella excited to meet her new cousin and family she never knew existed; Lorna is apprehensive about what lies ahead...
Lorna and Alice in particular will stay with me for differing reasons - both so strong in their own way.

The backdrop of the Scottish Island of Kip was idyllic and the weather, the ocean and the farm so vividly described which really captivated me and in this time of restricted travel, it was a welcome insight and escape and I really felt that I was there.

Libby Page has covered some emotional topics in this book, but has written them so sensitively.
I highly recommend this, a perfect summer read. Just make sure you have a box of tissues nearby.
Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishing for an e ARC of The Island Home in return for an honest review.

Community spirit on a Scottish island. Love everything about this book, from the scenic setting to the comradeship of the island's residents. Lorna, a teacher, reluctantly returns to the island of Kip with her daughter Ella to attend her parents' joint funeral. She left home as a teenager to escape their bullying, leaving her younger brother behind. As she renews old friendships, sees her daughter settle into island life and talks to her brother for the first time in years, Kip begins to work its magic on her. Then something happens to Ella. A tonic for the soul that reminds you to cherish your own family. Love the cheerful cover too!

The Island Home by Libby Page chronicles the journey of Lorna from the constraints of her small remote island home with controlling parents. Returning to attend their funeral Lorna and her daughter are mainly embraced into the local community and realise the blessings and richness of friendship and support. Lorna’s past trauma and damaged relationships look like they mitigate against a happy ever after as she weighs pros and cons to shape her next steps. Well written, lovely setting and fantastic character development throughout the book. Four stars

The Island Home is not my normal sort of book and I found it to be a little predictable and slow in places. I didn't particularly connect with the characters but I enjoyed the descriptions of the island and the island life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for my ARC.

Libby Page is fantastic at crafting relatable - and stronger than they know- women that you cannot help but take into your heart and this book is another great example of this.
This book is about the power of friendship to heal; the sense of strength in togetherness but also about how the past can direct our narrative if we let it - it can be both gift and curse. This book is both beautiful and raw; you will fall in love with the Island but, more than that, you will adore the women who find themselves there.

I finished this fantastic book last night but I am still thinking about 'The Island' and Alice and Lorna today.

In the story Lorna (and her daughter Ella) are visiting the island of Kip (off the Scottish coast) where Lorna grew up. She hasn't seen her brother who lives there for over 22 years or met her sister in law or teenage niece. Ella has struck up a friendship with her cousin online and persuaded Lorna to go back. Ella is desperate to meet some of her family.

As you progress through the book you slowly uncover why Lorna has kept away and what happened in her life there as a child. Lorna narrates one part of the story whilst her sister in law, Alice narrates the other.

This is such a lovely story of family, friendship and belonging. The characters are so well described that I actually feel like I know them. I also feel like I've visited the Isle of Kip with the vivid scenery and intense weather! I loved the community on the island.
I did predict the ending but it didn't stop me feeling quite emotional whilst reading it. I would have loved the story to have continued!

I would whole heartedly recommend this book. The perfect summer read. I will definitely be reading more books by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Books for this eARC.

After 20 years Lorna is returning to Kip with her daughter. Can she heal the rift with her brother? The past slowly unfolds in the story. All the pain and regret of the past surfaces. A great setting and although a bit predictable it is thoroughly enjoyable.

Having loved The Lido and enjoyed the 24h Cafe, I was looking forward to reading this one.

It is a story about family and sense of community, belonging and friendship.

However, I didn't enjoy this one as much, it wasn't that special. It didn't click with me, probably because I have never had that bond with family and community.

There are lots of long descriptions that I found unnecessary and it is a very predictable read. I found the characters quite one dimensional and there was no distinction between the main two characters. The teenagers were not so believable to me.

Nevertheless, it is a good read and the type of book you can enjoy on a long journey.

TW: domestic abuse

I LOVED this story and the depths it went to! It’s a difficult story with various triggers but I felt they were written well and in the right taste.

I felt so many emotions for all of the characters and loved that it was written from multiple POV.

Despite the heavy nature of some of the content there were real sunbeams of light and love and it was written so well that I floated through and read it super quickly.

I could see the Island of Kip as if I were there, the descriptions so subtly vivid.

The dialogues and situations entirely believable and gripping.

I can’t fault this story and it is therefore a big fat 5/5 for me.

A lovely book. From the first word the book flowed seamlessly between Lorna and Alice, interweaving the story beautifully. When Lorna returned to the island of her childhood you knew there would be ups and downs to navigate, but this was told when compassion and gentleness and you moved through the story at a smooth speed. Some books can be stilted in their writing and the two storylines can become disjointed - this did not happen here, it was a joy to read all the pieces of the jigsaw coming together. I would love to carry on with their stories....... will there be a sequel?

Lorna is apprehensive about boarding the train that will take her back to Kip, the small island off the Scottish coast where she was born. She escaped so many years ago and is frightened of reliving her childhood memories. Her daughter Ella, is excited to meet her cousin Molly after growing up in the centre of London with no other family. Libby transports us to the wild and stormy Scottish isle where the weather can change in a second. She brings the story to life describing the scenery and tempestuous seas.

Synopsis: When she was 18, Lorna ran away from her home on a small remote Scottish island called Kip, leaving behind her parents, her brother Jack, and everything she felt trapped by. 22 years later, Lorna’s 13yo daughter discovers she has a cousin on the island, and persuades Lorna to visit for the summer to meet Jack’s family and reconnect with her past.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
This was a cute story all about family, pace of life, nature and community. It didn’t really click with me though - I thought the long descriptive passages about the island were overdone, that there was no distinction between the two narrator’s voices Lorna and Alice, and that the writing was very tell-y and prescriptive. Everything just felt a bit one-dimensional and didn’t affect me in any way, which given the topics it covered you would’ve thought it might. Ella and Molly were especially bland as characters and didn’t seem believable teenagers to me. It was a good read, but it was totally predictable, and it just didn’t stand out to me.
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CW: domestic abuse

What a fabulous, warm and comforting read. I fell a little in love with the brooding characters of Lorna & Jack and the delightful helpful and loving Alice, who I would love to have as a friend!! All the characters were portrayed realistically bringing the amazing community of the Isle of Kip to life.
The author skilfully portrayed the stunning and sometimes ruthless, unforgiving scenery of Kip proving a stark contrast to the bustling, noisy Isle of Dogs and London.
The plot, although at times predictable, is written engagingly and made for a compelling read, even bringing tears to my eyes a couple of times with the rawness of the emotions and opening up of long hidden secrets.
This novel is a warm read that wrapped itself around me as tightly as the community on Kip.

I loved this book - I could not put it down once I started but I must admit Libby Page is one of my favourite authors.

This was beautifully written, heartwarming and so hopeful. A story of family, friendship, trust and acceptance.

It dealt with some hard issues - abuse within families, control and coercion - but managed to bring hope at the end.

A book I will be wholeheartedly recommending.

Teenagers Ella and Molly have found each other through social media and have started a burgeoning friendship and why shouldn’t they – they are cousins.

They have never met.

Ella’s mother Lorna, left the island where Molly is at the age of eighteen and has never returned.

Molly’s father Jack is Lorna’s brother and has not seen his older sister since she left all those years ago.

Now Lorna is returning, back to the Island of Kip that she once called home and she is going back to her parent’s funeral. Two people she hasn’t spoken to or seen since she left.

So many questions need answering for Lorna and her brother Jack, and for us as readers. Ella and Molly’s friendship naturally goes from online to real life with ease and as Lorna watches she can see what Ella may have been missing all of her life. In fact maybe Lorna has been missing it to?

Told from the perspective of Lorna and Jack’s wife, Alice which I thought an interesting choice, as we only learn about him through the eyes of someone who has not known him all his life. We learn how Alice came to be on the island and the life she has created for herself and her small family. Whilst she may only have Jack and Molly, she has the whole island as a family too.

As the days unfold on Lorna’s visit, as we keep tenderly turning the pages there is a sense of something not quite right and it takes a long time for you to find out what the ‘not quite right’ was. Gently told and slowly unfolding is typical of Libby Page’s writing and is what draws me back to her stories. Sometimes you do not need the thrilling, racy page turning that you get in some books. Slow and paced can have just an affect and it did for me, as tears ran down my face between one interaction Lorna has with her old school teacher.

Of course the book is focussed very much on Lorna and her daughter’s story, but the island community feel is strong and we learn of people from Lorna’s past who have become close friends with Alice. It was if Lorna returned and saw the life she could have had, that Alice was having with all the people Lorna left behind.

A real thoughtful book which concentrates on the simplicity of family and friendship, with some difficult moments that leaving you thinking, even if it seems that all works out alright on the surface. I think for Lorna, Alice, Jack, the children and the island of Kip, you know that life will have some more tough moments to follow. Through the whole story, the author has made us aware of that, a skill which is not always used well with some authors. The story of these people will continue long after you have finished reading.

I previously read The Lido & feel similarly as I did when I read that… this was too slow paced for me personally & took me a while to get through.

Lorna is visiting the island she left as a teenager & is accompanied by her own teenage daughter, we don’t really know why she is visiting, how it all came about & why she left in the first place.. this all unravels itself as the book progresses.

I liked the description of the island & could picture everything that the author described in my minds eye, the sense of community was great and the characters all very likeable.

Thank you to netgalley & the publisher for a digital ARC of this book in return for an honest review

A really lovely read. When Lorna returns to her childhood home on the island of Kip she has some very hard desitions to make and some terrible memories from her past which come back and unsettle her. She has not seen her brother for over 20 years and things are strained between them but she soon starts to fall back in love with the place but can they finally put the past behind them and move on.A really emotional story that is full of warmth and charm and plenty of great characters. I loved it

The Island Home is a quietly powerful story about family, estrangement and what is means to be isolated. Lorna and her daughter are making the journey back to an island off the coast of Scotland, where Lorna grew up, for her parents’ funeral. This is her first time back since she left at 18 and she has no idea of what awaits. Page has a very gentle storytelling style which is punctuated with some scenes of such emotional intensity they genuinely brought tears to my eyes. Throughout the story you are transported to this remote island with Lorna. This is a very enjoyable read and fans of The Lido will be even more impressed with The Island Home.