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The Visitors
The island has always seemed such a safe place, such a friendly community. Now the possibility of a killer on Bancree is dangerously close to home.
Nobody moves to the remote Scottish island of Bancree, and few leave – but leaving is exactly what seventeen-year-old Flora intends to do. So when a mysterious man and his daughter move into isolated Dog Cottage, Flo is curious. What could have brought these strangers to the island? The man is seductively handsome but radiates menace; and there’s something about his daughter Ailsa that Flo can’t help but feel drawn towards.
People aren’t only arriving on Bancree – they are disappearing too. Reports of missing islanders fill the press and unnerve the community. When a body washes ashore, suspicion turns to the strange newcomers on Dog Rock.
Convinced of their innocence, Flo is fiercely determined to protect her friend Ailsa. Could the answer to the disappearances, and to the pull of her own heart, lie out there, beyond the waves?
Nobody moves to the remote Scottish island of Bancree, and few leave – but leaving is exactly what seventeen-year-old Flora intends to do. So when a mysterious man and his daughter move into isolated Dog Cottage, Flo is curious. What could have brought these strangers to the island? The man is seductively handsome but radiates menace; and there’s something about his daughter Ailsa that Flo can’t help but feel drawn towards.
People aren’t only arriving on Bancree – they are disappearing too. Reports of missing islanders fill the press and unnerve the community. When a body washes ashore, suspicion turns to the strange newcomers on Dog Rock.
Convinced of their innocence, Flo is fiercely determined to protect her friend Ailsa. Could the answer to the disappearances, and to the pull of her own heart, lie out there, beyond the waves?
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Reviews
'Simon Sylvester's highly promising debut novel has a dreamlike quality to its narrative ... a delicate and compelling tale that nevertheless drags the reader along with a confident voice' Big Issue.
'The ghostly shivers this sends down the spine make it just the thing to read in a hot climate ... Wonderfully atmospheric' Kate Saunders, Saga magazine.
'Sylvester weaves Scottish folklore throughout this enchanting tale to produce a thriller that will keep you guessing till the end' Scottish Field.
'Simon Sylvester [...] catches plenty of the strange magic of the selkie stories and he brews it successfully with adolescent angst' Guardian.
'Ostensibly a missing-person mystery, The Visitors is anything but a standard thriller ... as dark, sad and enchanting as any fireside folk tale' The List.
'Myth and murder combine in Sylvester's lyrical yet gripping debut novel ... The reader is transported to the island and, unlike Flo, she won't want to leave' We Love this Book.
The Visitors is an affecting read, a book in which you want to believe, as mysterious and deep as the sea.