The Island at the End of the World [Paperback]

'The Island at the End of the World' is set after an apocalyptic flood, and follows the fortunes of a father and his three children, who survived because he had the premonition to build an ark. The family live alone in untainted wilderness; a self-sufficient idyll, but from the outset it is clear trouble is brewing in paradise. Though maddening at times, this is an excellent and thought provoking novel, written by one of literature's rising stars.

I found the first half frustrating and unconvincing. Chapters alternate between the voice of the father, and Finn, his pre-adolescent son. The father chapters are good. A strong voice - A fire and brimstone religious figure - A Noah for the modern era. Finn I found infuriating. I confess I find 'alternative' voices irritating, and I found his child's pidgin language extremely distracting. For me, instead of Finn's voice sounding like the internal thought-processes of child, it just sounded like Taylor trying to convince us that he knew what the internal thought-processes of child sound like. I also felt the voice was inconsistent. Finn is clearly well educated by his father and his internal language just didn't add up. I would have much preferred a 'normal' narration.

I was on the verge of giving up when suddenly 'Part Two' arrived. Again chapters alternate, but this time between the father and his eldest daughter, Alice. This I found much easier going, and I am glad I persisted, as what follows is a subtle, ambiguous piece of fiction and a wonderful example of the power of the written word.

It is hard to describe in too much detail why this is, as Taylor builds a delicate house of cards, that would be destroyed if I reveal too much. Over the course of the novel the author cleverly forces the reader into making assumptions, which he then twists around as the novel reaches its startling conclusion. All the signs are there and you'll wonder how you missed them.

A meditation of family relationships, the fragility of paradise and the power of redemption 'TIATEOTW' is an exceptional piece of fiction. I am glad I pushed passed Finn's chapters, which despite my dislike of them, add something to the novel as a whole. The innocence Finn brings to the complicated family dynamic that Taylor has constructed, adds to the power of this excellent novel.

Forewarned of a great disaster a father builds an Ark and he, his daughters Alice and Daisy along with his son Finn escape 'The Great Wave' and arrive at an island which they make their home.

The years pass and all the children know is what they learn from 3 books their father saved; The Bible, Grimm's fairy tales and a book of Shakespeare's works. Other than that, they rely on what their father tells them; that the rest of the world has perished but they have been saved and that their mother died saving Daisy, the youngest, during the great flood. Alice is the only one with any memories at all of life before and as she starts getting older, questioning her father and standing up to him things inevitably have to change especially when a stranger lands on their shore.

The author's change of style for different characters in particular Finn's has attracted some criticism from other reviewers I personally found that within a couple of chapters I was reading his prose as easily as the other chapters. I thought this book was very well written, beautifully descriptive and a very good read. The father is a great character; he's manipulative, controlling and often brutal. At the same time it is obvious that all of his actions, even though misguided are to protect his children.

As part of Creativity's Hearts and Minds festivities, there was a talent competition in conjunction with Penguin Books that challenged artists to design a cover for this novel. This cover by Matt Taylor was chosen from over 300 entries.

Sam Taylor's Republic of Trees focused on a paradise, run by children, for children. It didn't work. In The Island at the End of the World, he takes on the theme of a paradise run by a father for the benefit of his three children, Alice, Finn and Daisy. This is a paradise with three books - the Complete Works of Shakespeare, the Bible, and Grimms' Fairytales. The paradise is set on an island in the middle of an ocean, and the family arrived on the island in an ark during a great flood. They believe themselves to be the last remaining survivors of the human race.

In the opening half of the book, Pa and Finn - who is probably about ten and has no antediluvian memories - alternate in their narration. Pa has a bit of a God complex - and a very Old Testament God complex at that - seeking to control and avenge for the good of preserving the paradise in which he is raising his children. Finn, meanwhile, trusts his father completely and submits to the authority almost entirely.

As a stranger appears on the island, the paradise is threatened. Pa has to decide what he is and is not prepared to do for the greater good of preserving the paradise. This leads on into the second half of the book, in which the narration is shared between Pa and Alice, his older, thirteen year old daughter. Unlike Finn, Alice does have some memories of the old world - Babylon as Pa describes it - and has a little more curiosity than her brother. She also seems to have been far more affected by the loss of their mother han her two siblings.

So begins a strange and stylized story of deception and protection; of adolescence and awakening. The voices - all stylized - are utterly compelling. Pa is a lay preacher of a tyrant; Finn tells the story in a phonetic, uneducated style reminiscent of the central, cargo-cult section of David Mitchel's Cloud Atlas, and Alice is full of Shakespearean ideals of love and loss. But at the heart is a perverted, dystopian series of relationships for which the children's limited education and vocabulary is not quite sufficient - and for which Pa's fractured state of mind is similarly inadequate. There is a sense of menace and jeopardy that runs through every slightest action. The reader has no idea what might happen next because there is no law beyond that in Pa's mind at any given moment.

The novel is beautifully crafted - every bit the equal of the woodcut cover - and causes pause for profound questions. Most profound of all, perhaps, is just what price is worth paying for life in paradise. And when does the price become such that it is no longer paradise. The novel's simple imagery is deeply haunting and, stylized though it may be, offers some striking parallels to recent cases of children being raised in isolation in Austrian dungeons. The impenetrable, scary forests; the sunflower fields; the ark; the high redwoods reaching up into the infinite canopy, the ocean... Very, very visual. And add to this all the biblical metaphor, along with all sorts of nods to Shakespeare and the Brothers Grimm...

OK, some reviewers have pointed out that the novel does include some non-standard spelling; use of profane words; and considers the sexuality of a teenage girl. If these ideas offend or repel you, perhaps this isn't the novel for you. And there has been some suggestion that this might not be apropriate for children. Indeed it isn't - this is a book about children, not for children. Again, if this is a concept that seems confusing, perhaps this isn't the book for you. But if you have an open mind and a spark of intelligence, this shining novel may well be one of your reading highlights of 2009.