2017 Winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Regional Fiction: Northeast
2017 Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction by Independent Press Awards
2017 International Book Awards Finalist for Literary Fiction
2017 National Indie Excellence Award Finalist for Fiction
2017 Bronze Award for US Northeast Fiction from the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards
Literary Mystery Highlights an Heirloom Painting on Long Island Sound and the Relationships between Three Generations of Women
Part “who-done-it” and part family drama, this award-winning novel reveals that neither people nor paintings are always what they appear to be
Contradictory relationships within troubled families are nothing new, but the award-winning psychological novel written by well-known journalist Diane B. Saxton elevates these relationships and the mysterious heirloom painting that both exposes and unites them to an art form.
Peregrine Island interweaves the stories of three generations of women, one valuable painting, the artist who created it, and those who would do anything to possess it – including kill.
Lush with sensory details, this psychologically complex mystery novel is set on a private island in the middle of Long Island Sound. It begins when the family’s lives are turned upside-down one summer by so-called art experts, who appear on the doorstep of their isolated home to appraise a favorite heirloom painting. When incriminating papers along with two other paintings are discovered behind the painting in question, the appraisal turns into a full-fledged investigation and detectives are called into the case— but not by the family whose members grow increasingly antagonistic toward one another.
During the course of the inquiry and as the summer progresses, the family members discover new secrets about one another and new facts about their past. Above all, they learn that neither people nor paintings can be taken at face value. (Summary via Goodreads)
Peregrine Island by Diane B. Saxton is the first book that I have read that upon completing it, I am still unsure as to if I liked it or not..... Peregrine Island gives the reader a LOT to think about. Even after finishing it, it will stay on your mind for some time. I guess a good one word discription of it would be "intense".
In Peregrine Island there are a total of 12 characters within the entire story and the way that Saxton strings them all together will completely amaze you. It is like watching a magician do a magic trick.
I love how Saxton devotes one chapter to a character and their point of view of the story. I think that helps the reader better understand how each character is thinking. And believe me there is a lot of thinking going on.
Although the story and chapters are viewed through the minds of Winter, her daughter Elsie and granddaughter Peda, you will get to know the men in their lives as well.
Saxton centers the entire story around a painting, a painting that has been in Winter's life for as long as she can remember. She stares at the people in the picture for hours every day. She likes to think that she knows the people and how they feel and think. It takes her away from her own life that at times is hard for her to understand and deal with. And the story behind the painter is just as mysterious as the characters in the painting.
For a story that has few characters and is set around one object, a story that has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster, a story that is read through the viewpoint of three people, focuses on the present as well as the past, I can say for sure that you will find it very entertaining as well as riveting. I look forward to what Saxton has in store for us with her next novel.
Review by Missi S.
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