Where the World Ends

by Geraldine McCaughrean Narrated by Angus King

Overview

"McCaughrean takes the bones of a real event, wraps it in immersive, imaginative detail and thoroughly real emotion, and creates an unforgettable tale of human survival. A masterpiece." - Kirkus Reviews

Winner of the 2018 Carnegie Medal! New from Michael L. Printz Award winner Geraldine McCaughrean comes an extraordinary story of eight boys stranded on a rock in the middle of the sea, left to fight for their survival.

Every time a lad went fowling on the stacs, he came home less of a boy and more of a man. If he went home at all, that is.

Every summer Quill and his friends are put ashore on a remote sea stac to hunt birds. But this summer, no one arrives to take them home. Surely nothing but the end of the world can explain why they've been abandoned-cold, starving and clinging to life, in the grip of a murderous ocean. How will they survive such a forsaken place of stone and sea?

This is an extraordinary story of fortitude, endurance, tragedy and survival, set against an unforgettable backdrop of savage beauty.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"McCaughrean, who won the Printz Award for The White Darkness (2007), slips into the cracks of the human soul, dissecting with compassion the many paths that a person might take when confronted with such a challenge." - Booklist, starred review

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Winner of the Carnegie Medal
Book of the Month Club Selection
Kirkus Best Book of the Year
Junior Library Guild Selection
Indie Next Pick

“McCaughrean slips into the cracks of the human soul, dissecting with compassion the many paths that a person might take. Though this story is desperately sad at times, it glistens, too, propelled by the notion that where there is life, there is always, always hope.” —Booklist, starred review

“An epic, nearly mythic tale. McCaughrean takes the bones of a real event, wraps it in immersive, imaginative detail and thoroughly real emotion, and creates an unforgettable tale of human survival. A masterpiece.” —Kirkus, starred review

“McCaughrean’s storytelling is as dramatic and harsh as the island itself. A stunning literary achievement.” —BookPage, starred review

“Where the World Ends is a beautiful, sorrowful, poignant book with deeply drawn characters, a chilling atmosphere, and waves of emotion. Highly recommended.” —New York Journal of Books

“Based on a true story, Where the World Ends stuns with its dark narrative and haunting visual imagery, exploring what happens when the everyday-ordinary turns disastrously extraordinary. Unforgettable.” —Shelf Awareness

“Harshly beautiful, and stark with near-despair, this is an unsettling, deeply original historical novel.” —The Guardian

“Unsettling and utterly gripping, Where the World Ends paints a stunning portrait of a desperate battle for survival and the different methods employed to keep the group—and their fears—under some sort of control. With its wonderful evocation of time and place, beautiful writing and compelling storyline, this is a stunning addition to McCaughrean’s already impressive portfolio of books.” —Lancashire Evening Post

“Based on a real event, this is a story that sings to the soul. It belongs in every school and library. This is stark, beautiful story-making...everything a magnificent read should be.” —The Historical Novel Society

“This is the best book I’ve read this year. Extraordinary.” —Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies

“From tragedy, McCaughrean has created a wonderful love story.” —Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse

“Brilliant, beautiful, as unpredictable as the sea itself.” —Philip Reeve, author of Mortal Engines

DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile

With his Scottish accent, narrator Angus King adds atmosphere to this beautifully written historical novel. In the early 1700s, a group of boys and three adult chaperones are dropped off on Warrior Stac, a remote sea rock, for a few weeks of fowling—hunting puffins, storm petrels, and gannets. When the boat doesn’t return to pick them up, the group must survive the increasingly harsh conditions. Listeners experience all of this through Quilliam, a kind, curious boy who pines for Murdina, a young woman back on St. Kilda, and who strikes up a sort of friendship with a lone garefowl—a great auk. There’s a lightness to King’s tone that reflects the boys’ youth and helps keep the story from feeling too grim, in spite of the circumstances. It’s gripping listening. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2019-07-21
In this Carnegie-winning novel, McCaughrean (The Middle of Nowhere, 2013, etc.) turns a small piece of history into an epic, nearly mythic, tale.

St. Kilda's archipelago, far off the northwest corner of Scotland, is the most remote set of islands in Great Britain. In 1727, a boat set off from the sole occupied island, Hirta, dropping a small group of men and boys at Warrior Stac, a giant rock, for a fowling expedition. Told from the point of view of Quilliam, one of the older boys, (precise ages are never given; the boys seem to range in age from around 10 to about 16), the trip begins as a grand adventure: scaling cliffs via fingertip holds, making candles out of dead storm petrels, and cutting the stomachs out of gannets to use as bottles for oil. But then, inexplicably, the village boat does not return for them. As the weeks stretch to months and the birds begin to leave the rock, the party fears the end of the world. Cane, one of the men, sets himself up as a divine authority, praying for repentance, while Quill attempts to soothe the younger boys through story—and himself through memories of a young woman he loves. McCaughrean takes the bones of a real event, wraps it in immersive, imaginative detail and thoroughly real emotion, and creates an unforgettable tale of human survival.

A masterpiece. (map, afterword, birds of St. Kilda, glossary) (Historical fiction. 12-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169255904
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	12/03/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

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