The Island At the End of Everything

Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Published: 4th April 2017

Publisher: Chicken House

ISBN: 978-1910002766

Age range: 9+

Available at:  The Island at the end of everything

First of all, how gorgeous is the cover of this book? Of course, never judge the book based on this but in this case the story follows suit!

The story tells of Ami, 'untouched' by leprosy but living on an island, Culion, with many afflicted, including her nanay (mother). Until, that is, Mr Zamora arrives on behalf of the government to turn Culion into a leper colony, with all those untouched being sent to a different island and the untouched children going to an orphanage.

The descriptions of Culion are beautiful, but the contrast of all those diseased with their bodies rotting away is a great juxtaposition. There is imagery of both the leprosy and butterflies throughout as these are essentially the two main themes with a clever play on words, lepidopterist (someone who studies moths or butterflies) and lepido, meaning scaly, the word that spawned the name leprosy, closely linking the two.

There is so much to this book in terms of content. I felt like I learned a lot about butterflies, about the prejudice against leprosy (and was inspired to find out more about it) and I love that the characters are not two dimensional. We see Ami, our brave protagonist running back to Culion with her new friends Mari and Kidlat, desperate to reach her mother to the point she is cruel to the very people helping her before struggling with the guilt. Then there is the cruel bully, Mr Zamora, struggling with his own demons and yet, so passionate about butterflies that he is almost a decent being to people when discussing them. Ami hates him and yet can't help but be fascinated when he talks about butterflies. I think all of these flaws and emotions make the characters realistic and I loved that as it is too easy sometimes to make the protaganist too goody-goody. The supporting characters add well to the plot and build up a clearer picture of Ami and her passion and bravery.

The book is easy to read but challenges prejudice and deals with leprosy in a sensitive manner. There were parts I cried, which is always a sign of a great book. For me, the only thing missing was I wanted to know more about Mr Zamora: what was his illness, did he get his comeuppance? Life tells us that the baddies don't always get what they deserve but I feel there was more to him than I got to read about.

All in all, this was a fantastic read, a book of love, heartbreak, adventure and bravery and there is very little to improve upon. Having won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for 2017 with her first novel, The Girl of Ink and Stars, Kiran Millwood Hargrave is really shaping up to be one of the big children's authors of the day.