The Last Summer

Summer 1930 on St Kilda – a wild, remote Scottish island.

Two strangers from drastically different worlds meet . . .

Eighteen year old Effie Gillies has lived all her life on St Kilda; she’s the best climber on the island, as skilled and brave as any of the men. But in matters of the heart, she’s an innocent, and when Lord Sholto, heir to the Earl of Dumfries, visits, the attraction between them is instant. For one glorious week she guides the handsome young visitor around the isle, falling in love for the first time – until a storm hits and her world falls apart.

Three months later, St Kilda falls silent as the islanders are evacuated for a better life on the mainland. With her friends and family scattered, Effie is surprised to be offered a position working on the Earl’s estate, but seeing Sholto in polite society isn’t the reunion she’d hoped for. And when a body is discovered on the abandoned isle a few days later, she wonders if this is really a new beginning – or just an ending she can’t escape . . .

Moving from the untamed beauty of St Kilda to the glamour of 1930s high society, The Last Summer is an epic, sweeping novel full of romance, adventure and mystery from Sunday Times bestselling author Karen Swan**.