Gull Island: A Novel

Written by Anna Porter

Narrated by Madeleine Maby

A haunting psychological suspense novel about a young woman who visits her remote family cottage seeking answers to a murky past—for fans of Catherine McKenzie and Amber Cowie.

When her estranged father goes missing, Jude is persuaded by her mother to find his will. She travels to the family cottage on remote Gull Island, glad to be away from the city and to have the chance to sort through old memories, but is unsettled by what she finds there.

While contending with the neglected cottage and encroaching wild animals, Jude looks not only for her father’s will, but also for photographs of herself as a baby, desperate for proof that she was loved as a child. However, loneliness and terrifying dreams soon wear on her, bringing back frightening memories. Thoughts of her distant mother and intimidating father, her jealous sister, and her mother’s mysterious friend infest Jude’s increasingly clouded mind.

Then a fierce storm sweeps away her boat and severs her from the outside world. Forced to reckon with long-buried truths and filled with the terrible sense that the cottage may be haunted by more than the past, Jude begins to fear for her sanity—and her life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Release date: Sep 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9781668043868

Anna Porter

Anna Porter is the award-winning author of ten books, both fiction and nonfiction, most recently Deceptions and In Other Words: How I Fell in Love with Canada One Book at a Time. She has written five mystery novels, including The Appraisal, which was shortlisted for the Staunch Book Prize, and Mortal Sins. Kasztner’s Train won the 2007 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction and Ghosts of Europe won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. She cofounded Key Porter Books, an influential publishing house she ran for more than twenty years. In addition, she writes book reviews, opinion pieces, and stuff. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has received the Order of Ontario. Visit her at AnnaPorter.ca or connect with her on Twitter @AnnaPorter_Anna.

Reviews for Gull Island

[Melanie Beaulieu · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book could have been good. Even if it was slow at moments and I kept waiting for the great secret. Part of it was predictable and the ending was nonsensical and poorly constructed. The ending ruined it for me.