Mr Peacock's Possessions (THE TIMES Book of the Year) - Lydia Syson

''Intelligent, beautifully written'' The Times''Historical fiction fans, meet your new favourite author'' Stella Magazine''Beautifully written, immaculately researched and powerfully imagined'' Lancashire Evening PostOceania, 1879. For two years the Peacocks, a determined family of settlers, have struggled to make a remote volcanic island their home. At last, a ship appears. The six Pacific Islanders on board have travelled over eight hundred miles in search of new horizons. Hopes are high, until a vulnerable boy vanishes. In their search for the lost child, settlers and newcomers together uncover far more than they were looking for. The island''s secrets force young Lizzie Peacock to question her deepest convictions, and slowly this tiny, fragile community begins to fracture . . .An intimate, intense and beautifully realised novel of possession, power and the liberating loss of innocence. The perfect Christmas gift for fans of MISTER PIP and THE POISONWOOD BIBLE.