The Islanders

by John Rowe Townsend

Book Overview

A reissue of a classic adventure for young adults. The inhabitants of Halcyon Island are ruled by the laws of the Deliverer and follow the same customs and traditions that have prevailed for hundreds... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932425691
• ISBN13: 9781932425697
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Front Street
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Splendid, unsentimental, spare and clear-eyed novel

"The Islanders" is a book aimed squarely at what the publishing world calls "young adults" and the rest of us call "precocious kids", but it's beautifully and starkly written, and tautly structured. I reread it with just as much enthusiasm when twice the age at which I read it first. Townsend's characters are fully realized without being overly described, and he is excellent at *showing* us how life on this isolated, Pitcairnesque island unfolds rather than lecturing us about it. It is a tightly- and carefully-written novel that should appeal to adults and be devoured in voracious great gulps by more thoughtful younger readers -- girls will find a tough and capable young heroine who has no story-book prettiness or guile, but influences events with her courage, tenacity, and resourcefulness; boys will find almost-reluctant heroes who do not necessarily excel in their community's traditional masculine roles but have other strengths in abundance.