E.M. Schorb

Confidence is a fragile thing. Fortune Island tells the story of one Jessie Judas as she lives an isolated life on an island in the Atlantic. Her life develops many twists and turns as she is caught between her mentor, her descending-into-madness stepfather, and her biological father. An intriguing novel of the psyche of one woman, Fortune Island is a riveting read that can't be put down.

    Midwest Book Review
    Volume 8, No. 8
    August 2009



* * *




Fortune Island is an exquisite reading adventure. We are hooked from the start by the poignant situation of William Makepeace Thackery McQueen, and are compelled forward both by the remarkable story and by the very human characters whom we love and identify with, not, despite their flaws, but because of their flaws---Bill McQueen himself, the beautiful and mysterious Susannah, and the remarkable Jessie Judas, whose life story is the real centerpiece of this skillfully written book. The setting of the Outer Banks is vividly detailed and contains the best description of Hurricane Hazel I have ever read. And finally there is a wonderfully despicable snake-handling villain, The Rev. Jason Petitt Cogburn, who makes a magnificent foil to the other characters. This is a must read.

 --Anthony S. Abbott
  Novello Award Winner, Leaving Maggie Hope