The Enchanted Island

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       December 19, 2015

 

Author  Ellie O'Neill

Distributor:     
ISBN:                 9781925030013
Publisher:         Simon & Schuster Australia
Release Date:    

   Website:   www.simonandschuster.com.au

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Maeve O’Brien is a lady who has to put it mildly lost her way in life, somehow becoming enmeshed in the brittle world of Botox, a fast paced social life, a take it or leave it sex life, continuous selfies and to cap it all off, has made large with her friends credit card in order to get that next Botox.

Feeling terribly ashamed of herself she finds herself being asked to move out of her shared accommodation with Sasha, moving back in with her Mother and realising that unless a miracle occurs, life is going to go from bad to worse.

When a chance to move away from Belfast is offered with her firm she decides this is fate interfering and grabs the opportunity to go to Hy Brasil, a mysterious and remote island of the coast of Ireland. This could also be the chance to climb the company ladder if this goes as well as planned. Simple, get there get the signature and come back! Or is it!

Getting soaking wet in the open boat sent to collect her, she soon realises all is not quite as she had expected ; when she is shown to an old but robust caravan behind the pub for her accommodation she begins to doubt just exactly what she is doing.

Right from the beginning she senses there is more to Island life than is obvious; elderly men move about as if they were years younger, people are not all that friendly and when she tries to find Sean Fitzpatrick, she rapidly discovers he does not want to be found! Why not?

But Maeve is not so easily put off, just more determined to find him, get the signature to the land required to build the bridge to the mainland and then head for home. How complicated could that possibly be!

But as the days drift into weeks, Maeve gets to meet more and more of the people who live on the island and finds the mystique that is an unspoken part of the lifestyle begins to weave its magic in her life.

When she meets a man with dreamy eyes and magic in his soul she really begins to understand there is more to life than selfies, beauty treatment and casual sex. She discovers she is being restored to the person she once was, a happy, carefree girl who enjoyed life’s challenges and joys.

But there is also a treacherous side to the island which makes itself known in the most horrific of ways, bringing Maeve to a point where she needs to make some serious decisions and face a future which is still uncertain.

Once again, under the pen of Ellie O’Neill the romance and mystery that is in Ireland has found its way onto the pages as a lovely, whimsical, magical tale which will take you out of time and place by adding a little magic to your day