Island Fiction

A Spanish treasure ship is driven by a hurricane onto the rocky shoreline of Elbow Cay in September of 1566. Few of the crew survive, but they manage to salvage most of the treasure and bury it on the island, leaving a clue to its location in a chest placed in the boughs of a young mangrove tree. Four hundred forty years later, Jesse McDermitt and his friends solve the riddle that was hidden inside a chest found encased in the now-ancient mangrove.

A Modest Proposal is a satirical essay by Jonathan Swift written in 1729. It's a social commentary on British society's treatment of the poor. Saying more than this would be a spoiler! Please enjoy this unabridged and crisply narrated rendition of Swift's greatest work.

Frank and Joe are two teenage brothers who hope to follow in the footsteps of their father, a famous private detective. The Hardy Boys are joined by two friends, Chet and Biff, for a winter campout in a cabin on a remote island in Barmet Bay. But there seem to be others interested in the cabin, and a secret that it might hold. A sinister stranger orders them off the island, and when the boys don't comply, their food supplies are stolen.

The Fletchers are back on Rock Island, home of all their best summer memories. But from their first day on vacation, it's clear that this year things have changed. Their favorite lighthouse is all boarded up, and the Fletcher boys can't figure out why or how to save it. Add a dose of Shakespeare, a very tippy kayak, a video camera, (maybe, possibly, or not) a swimming cat, and some new neighbors, and the recipe for a crazy vacation is complete.

Anna St. James is having a great summer. Frostfall Island is hosting a massive romance reader event, complete with big-name authors, cover models, enthusiastic readers, and best of all, ice cream sundaes. Anna’s sister, Cora, and their eccentric housemate, Opal, are anxious to attend so they can meet their favorite authors. Anna decides to tag along to see what all the excitement is about. And excitement is definitely not lacking. When one of the most popular authors winds up dead, it is up to Anna to find out which of her many enemies was pushed far enough to commit murder.

On the island of Merlank, the Dead must not be allowed to linger. The very sight of their ghosts can kill you. When young Milo is thrust into the role of Ferryman following his father’s sudden death, he is the one who must carry away the Dead. Pursued by a vengeful lord and two malignant magicians, Milo must navigate strange and perilous seas where untold threats whisper in the mist. Does he have the courage and imagination to complete his urgent mission?

Passionate about conservation and fleeing an argument with her mother, newly qualified London vet Charlotte Walker has taken up a fellowship on the tiny South Atlantic island of Tuga de Oro to study the endangered gold coin tortoises in the jungle interior. She can claim the best of reasons for this year in paradise—What better motivation than to save a species?—but the reality is more complex. For Charlotte has secretly come to believe that she has her own connection to this remote and eccentric community, and she is finally determined to solve the mystery that has dominated her life.

Deputy Tessa Black gave up her career as a detective with the Seattle PD and returned to the Pacific Northwest island she calls home to care for her ailing mother. Tessa thinks her mother’s illness is the worst thing she’ll face - until she responds to a routine call in the state park and discovers a local man harpooned to a sign. As the murder investigation unfolds, it becomes clear that the victim harbored secrets. Together with her FBI agent best friend, Cate, and park ranger Logan Wilde, Tessa must connect the pieces before the murderer strikes again.

After a vicious battle for the crown, I’m now Alpha King. My brothers are safe, as is my mother, but my fated mate Nai Crescent is...gone. In the middle of my coronation ceremony, she disappears. All signs point to a kidnapping, but the High Mage Realm is off limits for my kind. I’ll be damned before I let anyone take her from me.

Jody, Ari and Carla have won golden tickets to the summer’s hottest music festival, which promises to be full of glamour, mystique and lots of freebies. But, arriving on the sun-drenched shores of a private Greek island among influencers and celebrities, the trio are dismayed to find the small festival site far from the beacon of music, art and ‘immersive experiences’ they were promised. Disappointed but not deterred, they vow to make the most of the trip.

In 1071 AD, Emperor Romanus Diogenes has rekindled the guttering flame of Byzantium. Yet in the eastern borderlands, two vital strongholds hang in the balance. Manzikert and Chliat must be won to secure the empire's fragile frontiers and vanquish the would-be usurpers who covet the imperial throne. But Sultan Alp Arslan and his vast Seljuk armies look to those twin fortress-towns also, resolute on seizing them first.

Ten celebrities have arrived to take part in the most gruelling - and lucrative - reality survival show ever devised: two weeks completely alone on a remote Scottish island, in the depths of winter. With a production team that seems incapable of keeping them safe, a gathering storm and the unrelenting gaze of hidden cameras, the contestants are stretched to the limit as they try and outshine their fellow competitors and hide their darkest secrets. But when a contestant winds up dead, it soon becomes clear that the players are not just fighting for the prize, but for their lives.

Spring 1946: Best friends Vera Frankel and Edith Ban arrive in Naples. Refugees from Hungary, they managed to escape from a train headed for Auschwitz and spent the rest of the war hiding on an Austrian farm. Now, the two young women are starting new lives abroad. Armed with a letter of recommendation from an American officer, Vera finds work at the United States embassy where she falls in love with Captain Anton Wight. But as Vera and Edith grapple with the aftermath of the war, so too does Anton, and when he suddenly disappears, Vera is forced to change course.

Ember's defiance has always been a frustration to the rest of her island community. But even she didn't expect to be selected as the next sacrifice, years before another is due. She can't help but wonder if it relates to the strange new ability that's just begun to stir within her. She doesn't intend to go down without a fight—in fact, the chance to confront the monster demanding sacrifices is a more welcome path than the marriage her parents had arranged to a local farmer.

Fong and Maya created Scum Island as a virtual sanctuary—a world where players could escape, explore, and form unbreakable bonds. But their peace shatters with a cryptic message: “Ready for the next round?” Now, their beloved island has been corrupted, and an unseen enemy threatens everything they’ve built....

When Jill Morgan left Tempest Island after high school, she didn’t know what she wanted to do the rest of her life. The only thing she’d ever loved was writing fiction, but that was a pursuit with no financial guarantees. So she did the responsible thing and got her college degree, then a job that provided a good living, and she wrote in her free time. She never expected to become a bestseller, but her books—written under a pseudonym—brought her millions of happy readers. And a stalker.

Ever since Lucy Smith’s father died five years ago; “home” has been more of an idea than a place. She knows being on the run is better than anything waiting for her as a “ward of the state”. But when the sharp-eyed and kind Mr. Jameson with an interest in her case comes looking for her; Lucy wonders if hiding from her past will ever truly keep her safe. Five years in the foster system has taught her to be cautious and smart. But she wants to believe Mr. Jameson and his “friend-not-friend”; a tall and fierce-looking woman who say they want to look after her.

On the islands of Hans Lollik, Sigourney Rose was the only survivor when her family was massacred by the colonizers. When the childless king of the islands declares he will choose his successor from amongst eligible noble families, Sigourney is ready to exact her revenge. But someone is killing off the ruling families to clear a path to the throne. And as the bodies pile up and all eyes regard her with suspicion, Sigourney must find allies among her prey and the murderer among her peers...lest she become the next victim.

H.G. Wells (1866 -1946) - the master of the genre - created his "scientific romances" and set the standard for futuristic literature that also teemed with both social commentary and a prescient view of the world to come. Enjoy these two classics by the "father of science fiction".

1951. Esther Durrant, a young mother, is committed to an isolated mental asylum by her husband. Run by a pioneering psychiatrist, the hospital is at first Esther's prison but soon surprisingly becomes her refuge. 2018. Free-spirited marine scientist Rachel Parker embarks on a research posting in the Isles of Scilly, off the Cornish coast. When a violent storm forces her to take shelter on a far-flung island, she discovers a collection of hidden love letters.