Name: Isola
Rating: 3.875 (12 reviews)

Allegra Goodman

A novel

Isola

LeeSa Geelhood

loved the beginning! The middle was dark as hell. The end was ok. 

Jacqui Spears

Michelle Dsouza

Isola absolutely wrecked me in the best way. I started it “just to get a feel for it” and then suddenly I was fully transported, like I’d been dropped into another century with salt in my hair and my heart in my throat.<br /><br />Allegra Goodman writes in a way that feels vivid without trying too hard. The setting isn’t just scenery, it’s pressure. You can feel the social rules closing in, the isolation creeping up, and the sheer effort it takes for the main character to keep going when everything around her is stacked against her. And that’s what made it so gripping for me. It’s not just a historical story, it’s a survival story, and it feels personal. You’re not watching her from a distance. You’re right there with her, making sense of danger, loneliness, resilience, and the tiny moments of beauty that still somehow show up.<br /><br />It’s intense, emotional, and strangely comforting at the same time, because beneath all the hardship there’s this steady thread of determination that never turns cheesy. I finished it feeling completely satisfied, a little haunted, and already wanting to shove it into someone’s hands.

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK The New York Times ‘Best Books of the Year (So Far)' A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in a deeply moving novel of love, faith and survival, for readers of Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist and Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See ‘This made me cry on an airplane but it was worth it! A luscious, rich and moving novel, a beautiful, careful and profound book about survival and hope’ Alice Winn, bestselling author of In Memoriam ‘An extraordinary book that reads like a thriller, written with the care of the most delicate psychological and historical fiction’ Vogue ‘Best Books of 2025’ ‘A shocking story, made all the more stunning by the fact that it has its roots in true history’ Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister's Keeper In sixteenth-century France, as the heiress to an aristocratic fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of privilege. Then she is orphaned, and her enigmatic and volatile guardian squanders her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to the new French colonies of North America. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian’s servant and the two develop an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished, abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue. From a childhood dressed in gowns with laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she had never before needed… Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola tells the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.

Isola A novel

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