Overview
From #1 bestselling author Genevieve Graham comes an adventurous and heartrending novel about a young woman’s promise to look after two orphaned children aboard an Irish famine ship quarantined in 1847 Quebec, and her heroic efforts to honour that promise when they are separated.
In the spring of 1847, seventeen-year-old Alice Sullivan boards a famine ship with her parents and seven siblings, fleeing a starving Ireland. By the time they reach the quarantine station at Grosse Île, Quebec, only Alice and her young brother remain. Grief-stricken and adrift in a strange land, Alice takes charge of two orphaned children she barely knows and swears to never let them be taken from her.
But Grosse Île is no refuge. Disease runs rampant, records are missing, and children vanish without explanation. Posing as a nurse to stay close to the orphans, Alice navigates a foreign system that seems indifferent to suffering. A young doctor, Julien Mercier, begins to ask questions of his own. Together, they uncover a chilling possibility: the children aren’t being lost—they’re being taken.
When a betrayal costs Alice everything, she sets out for Montreal and finds herself at the heart of a secret Irish resistance, risking everything to unmask a network preying on the most vulnerable.
Based on the real-life events of the Great Irish Famine and the shadowy legacy of Grosse Île, Island of Orphans is a sweeping story of courage, conviction, and the quiet decisions that shape a life. With characters who love fiercely and fight harder, Genevieve Graham once again brings to light a forgotten chapter of history, and a heroine readers won’t soon forget.
In the spring of 1847, seventeen-year-old Alice Sullivan boards a famine ship with her parents and seven siblings, fleeing a starving Ireland. By the time they reach the quarantine station at Grosse Île, Quebec, only Alice and her young brother remain. Grief-stricken and adrift in a strange land, Alice takes charge of two orphaned children she barely knows and swears to never let them be taken from her.
But Grosse Île is no refuge. Disease runs rampant, records are missing, and children vanish without explanation. Posing as a nurse to stay close to the orphans, Alice navigates a foreign system that seems indifferent to suffering. A young doctor, Julien Mercier, begins to ask questions of his own. Together, they uncover a chilling possibility: the children aren’t being lost—they’re being taken.
When a betrayal costs Alice everything, she sets out for Montreal and finds herself at the heart of a secret Irish resistance, risking everything to unmask a network preying on the most vulnerable.
Based on the real-life events of the Great Irish Famine and the shadowy legacy of Grosse Île, Island of Orphans is a sweeping story of courage, conviction, and the quiet decisions that shape a life. With characters who love fiercely and fight harder, Genevieve Graham once again brings to light a forgotten chapter of history, and a heroine readers won’t soon forget.
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