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Geraldine McCaughrean's Where the World Ends is a gripping survival story for 11 year olds about a group of island boys left on a towering rock, waiting for a boat that doesn't come.
Every summer, men and boys from Hirta sail out to the great sea stacs to catch birds. Feathers, eggs, meat and oil, enough to help the island through winter. This year Quill is one of them, along with his best friend Murdo, the bully Kenneth and little Davie, who's never been before.
At first it's hard, proud work. Quill climbs a sheer cliff to catch the lookout bird and gets to be King Gannet for the whole trip. They sleep in a damp cave and dangle on ropes over the sea.
Three weeks pass. Then four. And no boat.
Mr Cane, the gloomy church sexton, starts leading the prayers. Then little Euan has a vision. What if the world has ended, and everyone at home has gone up to Heaven without them?
The writing is stunning. You feel the wind and the spray and that terrifying jump from the boat onto the rock. And you're right inside Quill's head as he tries to keep the younger boys calm with stories he doesn't believe himself.
It's also about a boy growing up. Quill can't stop thinking about Murdina, a young woman from the mainland who sang and told stories, and who'll have sailed away before he's home. (He talks to her in his head. A lot.)
This one does read older than most of the shelf. Catching birds is the boys' job, so there's a great deal of neck-wringing and plucking. Quill's feelings about Murdina are a teenager's, the kind the minister calls "sins of the flesh". And the fear of being forgotten, or of the world having ended, is very real and very bleak.
For a confident reader who's ready for something darker and more grown-up, it's an extraordinary book. For a younger or more sensitive reader, it might be one to save.
If they'd like more of Geraldine McCaughrean in a smaller dose, she has a short story in War Stories. It follows a tired, wounded Crusader stopping at a monastery on his way home.
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