Island by Downes, Patrick

A teenaged boy struggles as he watches his family and relationships fracture after the death of his mother, and is now faced with the terrible possibility that his twin brother may have just killed their father.

Seventeen-year-old Rad comes home to find his father lying broken and dead at the bottom of the ravine behind their house. Rad's twin brother, shaken but very much alive, had watched their father fall.

Desperate to understand what has happened before calling the police, Rad confronts his brother and the complicated landscape of their past. He reconstructs not just the circumstances leading to his father's death, but the history of his family.

How can a family simply disintegrate? Were they ever happy, or were the roots of unhappiness always there? What plagued his father? What plagues Rad?

As the time comes to do the right thing, the question remains. Did his brother kill their father? And what will happen to the boys now?

Author: Patrick Downes
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Published: 05/01/2019
Pages: 184
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.50w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781773061924
Age Range: 14-UP

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2019
Booklist 05/01/2019 pg. 83
School Library Journal 07/12/2019 pg. 1