Wolk, Lauren. Candle Island. Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2025. 978-0-593-69854-9. 352 p. $18.99.Grades 7-10.

After her father’s tragic car accident, twelve year-old Lucretia Sanderson and her mother crave a new start, so they move to the close-knit community on Candle Island, Maine. There is another reason for their move: privacy. Both Lucretia and her mother are painters and, recently, her mother’s paintings have reached a high point of notoriety. Straddling the line between townie and summer folk, Lucretia fights quietly to fit in with Island natives, Bastian and Murdock, a feat made more difficult because she is living in Murdock’s family home. Introspective as well as perceptive, Lucretia appears shy, but is quick to speak her mind with a maturity beyond her years. When Murdock is rude to her, she counters with kind but incisive comments; when the townies tease her, she holds her ground with shaky confidence. She, herself, declares that life on the island has prompted a change in her. As she settles into a routine that helps her explore her grief and enable that change, she nurtures a wounded osprey back to health; grooms her horse, Hog; sails on her skiff, Sprite; and secretly revels in the beautiful operatic voice of Bastien. But Lucretia and her mother are harboring a secret, one that is sure to disturb their serenity on the island. When the destructive antics of the bored summer kids – notably the trip of Trevor, Jasper, and Caroline – hit home, Lucretia aligns herself with the locals to reveal their guilt. Candle Island brims with beautiful writing, but the protagonist seems older than her years in speech and action. This book fits in a certain niche for sensitive readers who appreciate the writer’s craft.

THOUGHTS: Lauren Wolk, who is arguably one of the most lyrical writers in children’s fiction today, crafts a sensitive story of a family recovering from grief through creativity. Mother and daughter have a tight relationship, made more intertwined because of their mutual secret. Though other characters hold the readers’ interest and the elite trio of summer troublemakers cause the conflict, this novel is all wrapped up in Lucretia’s coming of age story. The battles and dreams captured in Lucretia’s head drive the story. She describes her daily chores and the tasks of others with minute detail; like the artist she is, the natural world comes to her in all sorts of colors. Things are happening but slowly; and although Lucretia assumes the quiet but fierce mantle of her namesake, the Quaker activist (who would spend most of her adult life in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania), the typical reader may find Lucretia’s adult ways admirable but not believable. In addition, I read this book believing it took place in the present day, not noticing that the characters never picked up a cell phone or computer. When searching for the number of pages (I read a Netgalley version), I saw the Kirkus reviewer placed the setting in the 1960’s-1970’s. All the characters appear white.

Historical Fiction