The Island of Mists and Miracles

From the author of the international bestseller, The Mad Women's Ball, a hugely atmospheric novel for fans of Elizabeth Strout and Annie E Proulx.

Sometimes the truth lies in the things you cannot see.

In 1830, a young novice called Catherine Laboure was granted a vision of the Virgin Mary. Nearly 200 years later, Sister Anne is also waiting for a sign. This is why she accepts a mission to go to a tiny community on an island just off the coast of Brittany. Her only companion there is a sceptical, chain-smoking older nun who just wants to be left in peace.

On the island, she meets Hugo, the son of a devout family who prefers to look for the meaning of life amid the stars; Madenn, a grandmother whose daughter was killed in a crash and who finds meaning in routine; Isaac, Madenn's grandson, an otherworldly teenager who doesn't fit in but who befriends Hugo; and Julia, a sickly child. If anyone needs a miracle, it is her.

But it is not Sister Anne who receives a vision. Instead, it is Isaac who is found on a promontory, transfixed, unable to utter more than the words "I see." The event soon becomes headline news, and the world descends on the small island, opening old wounds and unleashing a chain of events none of them could have foreseen.