I adored reading this, a perfect book for both curling up with on a rainy day as well as reading on a beach, pretending you are on Moss' island. The writing itself is absolutely gorgeous - the characters speak with their own dialect, which trickles into the descriptions as well. I will be thinking of the world through their eyes for a long time yet. The references to The Tempest are clever nods without losing the reader, and the island itself is fascinating - it really made me wish I could see it. The dreamy, hazy feel to the writing adds to the magic and the feeling of never quite knowing what is real. Don't be fooled by the beautiful cover - the book is darker than it would have you believe!

I received a review copy of this in exchange for an honest review. This is in one sense a classic 'coming-of-age' narrative. We see Moss as she grows from a 'Small Thing' into her teens, and watch as her relationships with both "wild-boy" Cal and Pa change as she does. However, there's a lot more going on here, and in some ways I'm not sure where or how I'd categorise this, which is no bad thing. Let's start with the island and its stormflowers - described in a beautiful and lyrical style, there is a dream-like feel to the place, the flowers and the magical qualities that surround them. But are things as idyllic as they seem, or is there a darker side to the flowers and their effects? There's a heavy, heady link to poppies and their opioid connections made, but we're left to draw our own conclusions as the book progresses. Much of the book feels like this: the line between fantasy and reality is not so much blurred as changeable and shifting. There is a wonderful balance between the real and the fantastic: the real often seeming to be written between the lines of the magic on the page, which I thought was so cleverly done and only added to the sense of foreboding and doubt that gradually creeps in as Moss begins to realise that perhaps not everything is how she has grown up believing it to be. While not a retelling as such, I loved the many parallels with The Tempest in the book. I want to say more, but am loath to give any spoilers away. Suffice to say - the influence is there with similarities carefully woven into the story. If you don't know it, it won't matter: it stands as a well-crafted story in its own right. This is a book for being swallowed up in - immersed in stories, stormy seas, stormflower smoke and the tingle-fizz of petals on tongues, scales on skin and whispers of another world. You could easily find yourself going as mad as Pa if you try to wrap your head round what's really real, what's magic, what's illusion, what's lies, what's truth, what's a version of all of these... and that's partly why I loved this book as much as I did. It'll definitely be a book to come back to and one that will withstand multiple readings.