Milo, his older brother Leif and his father live in the Mists of the Dead.

When anyone dies on their tiny island of Merlank, their spirits linger. It is said that the mists are to blame. These spirits needed a guide to help them leave the realm of the living, and this guide is Milo’s father – The Ferryman.

The Ferryman has been doing this duty for the past thirty five years and he knows the special steps to take and the important traditions to uphold.

• Take the dead one’s shoes.
• Invite them aboard the Ferryman’s boat called The Evening Mare
• Ask them to wear a hood on board
• Never look into the dead one’s eyes

When a Lord’s 14 year old daughter dies, her mother brings her shoes to be certain she doesn’t wander aimlessly on Merlank, tainting and killing everything wherever she goes.

But the Lord isn’t ready to say goodbye to his beloved daughter and believes his magicians can help her.

Milo is soon to have the night of all nights, losing much, but gaining an adventure, wisdom, a new future and traditions, made by him alone. There is a panicked chase through the mists, a spectral gateway to pass, and a new kind of Ferryman in the making.

This is an eerie and solemn tale of aiding the dead to move onto the next world. A Ferryman’s son, thought to be too gentle for the job is suddenly thrust into responsibility of six souls on board his father’s boat.

The setting of mist above water, and voices calling through it is creepy and full of tension as the young sailor flees with the spirits aboard. 

The main character is kind, patient and learns that his father’s ironclad way of dealing with the dead needn’t to have been so rigid and unfeeling. He finds his own way in his new situation.

An antagonist/ villain comes in the way of a powerful, wealthy but grieving Lord, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. But magic, superstition and ignoring the rules become his downfall.

I knew I had to have a copy of this new book by Frances Hardinge & Emily Gravett for my shelves. Emily Gravett’s illustrations are poles apart from the picture books illustrations we know and love. But in only 3 colours of light blue, black and white and with a lino-cut look, they are perfect for Frances Hardinge’s hardback medieval age story.

Far from a light, fluffy tale, Island of Whispers still leaves the reader with a sigh in the heart, and a little smile for the young new Ferryman who will be doing things differently from now on. 

Author – France Hardinge

Illustrator – Emily Gravett

Age – 11+

Find more books by Frances Hardinge here

Find more books illustrated by Emily Gravett here

(2023, TwoHoots Books, Historical, Family, Courage, Adventure, Grief, Bullies, Conflict, Ghost, Growing Up, Coming of Age, Love, Magic, Sailing, The Ferryman, Guiding the Dead, Fear, Spooky, Souls last journey, Tradition, Islands, Boat Journey, Rules, Death, Magicians, Greed, Mystical, Merlank)