Candle Island

To rebuild their lives following her father’s death, artistic 12-year-old synesthete Lucretia Sanderson and her painter mother move to tiny Candle Island, Maine. Initially hoping for peace and privacy, they instead find themselves at the center of a simmering feud between the year-round islanders and the seasonal vacationers. The first-person narrative, set during an unspecified period without widespread cellphones and computers, twists through escalating small-town conflicts as Lucretia struggles to find her footing as an islander and decide how to define herself to others. This search for a new sense of purpose and self is most evident in her efforts to save, nurture, and raise a baby bird to maturity, a gentle and cozy narrative through line that mirrors the protagonist’s inter- nality: “An all-or-nothing leap was the answer to the question of who [the bird] ought to be. Nothing less will do.” Wolk (My Own Lightning) immerses readers into the grounded storytelling via sensorial descriptions of Lucretia’s synesthesia, while leisurely pacing provides space for quiet contemplation in this cathartic and deeply felt story, a resounding celebration of unconditional love and personal expression. Lucretia reads as white. Ages 10–up. (Apr.)