Farewell to the Island

"Farewell to the Island" is a charming book. I found it enjoyable and was not able to put it down once I started reading it. Even though I have not read "Once on this Island" I was easily able to follow the storyline. I can only hope to get my hands on the sequel to this book so I can learn what happens to Mary O'Shea and what her decisions for the future shall be.

The year is 1816 and the war between England and the United States is finally over. Mary is now a vibrant young woman at sixteen, not the young girl we first met in ONCE ON THE ISLAND. For the first time in her life Mary is leaving her beloved island of Mackinac and traveling to London to visit her sister Angelique. While on the steemer, Comfort, Mary meets a young man named James Lindsey who captures her interest. On her arrival in London, Mary finds herself in a society that she has never known. Many surprises are in store for Mary in London, but the biggest of all is the fact that James Lindsey is no other than Lord Lindsey, son of the Duke of Oakbridge. As the two of them grow closer in their fondness for eachother Mary finds she must make a hard decision. Can she give up her hard life on her beloved island for the life of London society with James? Can she give up all the people she loves, including White Hawk, who Mary still has feelings for? A second wonderful novel by Gloria Whelan. I enjoyed this even more than the first one!

FAREWELL TO THE ISLAND is a wonderful sequal to ONCE ON THIS ISLAND which was set on a Great Lakes island in Michagin during the War of 1812. It's 1816, and the war is over. 16 year old Mary O'Shea is sailing to England, to visit her older sister, Angelique, who married a British soldier who had been stationed on the island during the war. As Mary grows closer to the people she meets there, she must decide on which island her heart belongs - The island of Great Britain, where a young Lord has proposed marriage to her, or on the island of Michalmackinac, the island she was born on, ths island she calls home?