Thursday, June 13, 2013

REVIEW: This Northern Sky by Julia Green

I've never read anything by Julia Green before this, but after reading This Northern Sky, I will definitely look out for her other books.  I loved the really sweet and gentle tone to the story. There can be so much drama and angst in a lot of YA novels that I read so it was very refreshing to read a story like This Northern Sky. I'd love to read more gentle contemporary stories like this one. 

Julia Green really writes beautifully of this island in the Hebrides that our main character, Kate and her family, finds themselves over the summer during the school holidays. It's one last attempt for Kate's parents to pull together and find out if their marriage is worth saving. Kate finds the atmophere in their holiday cottage to be unbearable with the fighting and slightly boring so she spends a great deal of her time exploring the island.

I found all of the descriptions of this island in the Hebrides to be endlessly fascinating. I love that it's a setting that I've never come across before and along with Kate, I really found myself becoming emotionally invested in island life and of the islanders that she comes across.  I love how Kate gets involved in the controversy that surrounds the island and proposes useful and very helpful possible solutions.  I found myself rooting for this island and really wanting the best for it as though the island itself was one of the characters in the book that I'd fallen for along with Kate and everyone else.

I really loved this story. My parents divorced when I was a few years younger than Kate so I could really relate to her feelings about what her family is going through. I thought the fighting and conflict that comes with this family was really realistic and more than a little bit sad. And while I thought from the blurb that I'd previously read of the book that this book would be more of a love story I really love how romance isn't central to the storyline. It's there, but Kate and Kate's relationships with her family and with new friends comes first.  That is definitely something I admire and would like more of in YA.

I loved Julia Green's beautiful and unassuming style of writing. She brought these characters and this island to life so wonderfully and effortlessly that I could close my eyes and picture myself there amongst them.  This book was so lovely and atmospheric and it really is a book not to be missed. Highly recommended!



6 comments:

  1. I love Julia Green's books and I really wish she got more exposure on the blogs! Her characters and writing are so, so lovely.

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    1. I will definitely be picking up her other books to read now that I've read this one!

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  2. So glad you enjoyed this, I'm a huge Julia Green fan so I always love it when other people enjoy her books.

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    1. I'm quite excited to read more by her. I loved this one so much!

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  3. You need to read Breathing Underwater. It's possibly perfect.

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