The Island Love Song by Emma Cowell

 

The Island Love Song by Emma Cowell.

Published 6th June 2024 by Avon.

From the cover of the book:

Escape to the beautiful Greek Island of Hydra with this moving novel, filled with family secrets and romance...

Emma Cowell, author of THE HOUSE IN THE OLIVE GROVE, returns with her brand new, emotional and romantic novel set on an idyllic Greek Island.

Hydra, the picturesque Greek island, is a paradise for most, yet for sisters Ella and Georgia, it is a place where their darkest secrets dwell. And now the time has come for them to confront their past as they return to Greece to scatter their mother’s ashes.

Ella is haunted by a love song that was written for her by the man who broke her heart years earlier and she longs to find peace so she can move on with her life.

Georgia pretends everything in her life is perfect, but she is plagued with guilt. If what she’s kept hidden for decades was revealed, their family would never be the same again.

The island is urging the sisters to confront the truth, but can they build a future on the ruins of their past?

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Sisters Ella and Georgia have never resembled each other, either in looks, or temperament: olive-skinned, Ella is a free-spirited photographer who travels the world and has never put down roots; while fair-skinned Georgia is a stay-at-home mother who keeps a tight rein on herself, careful to cultivate an image of the perfect, conventional existence. They seem to have always rubbed each other the wrong way, but the shared love of their mother and of Georgia's daughter Phoenix, who resembles her Aunt Ella, has kept them tied together.

When Ella and Georgia's mother dies, they are brought together with a bump. They must set off on a journey with Phoenix to fulfil her last wish - to scatter her ashes on the Greek island of Hydra. Hydra is a place that both sisters have been reluctant to return to, despite spending happy childhood holidays there, because of the difficult memories the island now holds for them - Ella due to the heartache she feels over the musician lover who abandoned her in her darkest hour, something she is constantly reminded of by the hit song he wrote about their relationship; and Georgia because of guilty acts she wishes she could forget. But Hydra has been waiting for their return... the time has come for them to confront the past, reveal the secrets they have kept from each other, and find a way to move on.

Emma Cowell's third enchanting novel, The Island Love Song, returns to beautiful Greece, this time for a heartfelt story on the picturesque island of Hydra. The story unfurls mostly through the narratives of Ella and Georgia, immersing you in the past and present of the difficult relationship that has developed between them, interspersed with delicious little snippets of prose from Hydra that thrum with mythological vibes of Gods and Goddesses looking upon the fate of the sisters from Olympian heights.

It is tricky to talk about how beautifully Cowell weaves the threads of the story without giving the game away, but essentially this is a tale of how the weight of secrets has built barriers between the sisters, resulting in tricky family dynamics that have them taking barbed pot-shots at each other every time they meet. Being forced together on Hydra brings matters to an explosive head, as multiple, shocking skeletons in this family closet start to work their way out into the dazzling sunshine, especially when a face from the past intrudes upon an already tense situation. 

Cowell delves beautifully into the opposing natures of the sisters, with heartsore Ella contemplating 'what could have beens', and a neurotic Georgia terrified of what she might lose, while a wise beyond her years Phoenix sits in the middle. A lot of cleverly contrived drama results, on an island which may or may not have a magical influence on the Greek tragedy-esque spectacle playing out on its stunning rocky stage. Luscious themes of family (both blood and found), motherhood, loss, love and fate echo through the story, which are used to build layers of mystery around decades of secrets, and there are very clever twists and turns to be negotiated on the way to the most poignant of endings. I absolutely adored how Cowell uses music to heighten the emotional content throughout, in suitably pitch perfect style, and the thread about 'twin flames' will pierce you to the very core. 

I loved this story from start to finish. It is Cowell's most complex novel, and my favourite of her books to date. Sweeping, escapist, tender, and drop dead gorgeous. Tears were well and truly shed!

The Island Love Song is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Avon for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Emma lives in Cornwall with her husband, Tony, and their fur baby, a Russian Blue called Papoushka Gerald Cowell. A former actress and BBC presenter, segueing from being paid to talk for a living into writing was a natural progression, since story telling has been at the heart of her career to date. Outside of work, Emma is a keen angler and is attempting to learn Greek to maintain her love affair with the country where she has set her novels. She is yet to achieve a level of proficiency outside of tavernas and bakeries.