Little Eve

Eve and Dinah are everything to one another, never parted day or night. They are raised among the Children, a commune of strays and orphans ruled by the mysterious patriarch, the adder. All they know is the grey Isle of Altnaharra which sits in the black sea off the wildest coast of Scotland. Eve loves the free, savage life of the Isle. She is untroubled save by her dreams; of soft arms and a woman singing. She offers her blood in the standing stones as sacrifice. Eve is convinced that she is the next adder, heir to the Isle. But Dinah longs for something other. The world is at war and cannot be kept at bay. As the solitude of Altnaharra is broken, Eve's faith and sanity fracture. In a great storm in the depths of winter, as the old year dies, she murders the Children among the standing stones. Eve dies too, while making her escape. But Dinah lives to take up the tale.Cast out, alone, Dinah must make her way through the strange world beyond the Isle. Battling grief and incomprehension she searches for her place. But Dinah cannot seem to leave Altnaharra behind. Some deep part of her does not wish to. The adder and little Eve are calling. Eve and Dinah's stories contradict and intertwine. Past and present converge, hurtling towards a devastating conclusion. Only one woman can be telling the truth. Who is guilty, who innocent? Set against the distant thunder of the First World War, this is a chilling exploration of corroding power and a lyrical journey through the reaches of the human spirit. Little Eve is a sinuous elegant thriller that will slip its coils about you and hold.