
Author: Karen Swan
Series: The Wild Isle #4
Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 1, 2025
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 480
Format: Paperback
Source: Publishers Group Canada
Book Rating: 10/10
If there’s one thing Jayne Ferguson has learnt in her life, it’s that every blessing comes with a curse. She married the most handsome man on the isle of St Kilda – but he’s a bully. She inherited her mother’s gift of second sight – but only ever forsees her fellow islanders’ deaths. She has learnt to keep to herself, treading in the shadows and shirking the highs for fear of the lows.
When a needless death strikes at the heart of her home, Jayne’s bad marriage becomes worse and she finds solace with an unlikely friend. Glimmers of happiness tantalise her, though there’s no possibility for anything more, especially once word comes of St Kilda’s evacuation.
But as the day draws near, tensions on the island rise. Secrets are being forced to the surface, passions and enmities erupting with equal violence. A man is killed, as Jayne knew he would be, and those closest to her are implicated.
On the mainland, the villagers scatter into new lives, hoping distance means refuge. But then Jayne has another of her dreams and she knows the past isn’t done with them yet.
Review:
Captivating, heart-tugging, and nostalgic!
The Midnight Secret is a compelling, beautiful tale that takes you back one last time to 1930 and into the lives of a handful of previous St. Kilda residents, including the kind Jayne Ferguson, as long-buried secrets come to light, love is lost and found, justice is finally served, and some get to make one final trip to the place they used to call home.
The prose is lyrical and rich. The characters are layered, loyal, and conflicted. And the plot is a captivating, heartwarming tale of life, loss, love, family, friendship, grief, guilt, denial, secrets, revelations, self-reflection, and forgiveness.
Overall, The Midnight Secret is a poignant, passionate, epic, historical fiction novel by Swan inspired by real-life events that is full of soul-searching dilemmas, dangerous situations, and complex, intriguing characters. And while it’s extremely bittersweet to say goodbye to this amazing cast of characters I’ve come to be invested in over these last four novels, it is nevertheless a brilliant ending to a fabulous series that I highly recommend and will undoubtedly miss.
This book is available now.
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Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.