4.5⭐
Wonderfully written, "The Lost Lights of St Kilda" is an emotional historical fiction set on St Kilda. I was first struck by the beautiful cover then curious where St Kilda is, I didn't even know it's a real place- the Scottish Isles. After I read a brief history online, I knew I have to read this novel.

Be prepared to fall in love with these characters. The story is told in multiple timelines, mostly in the 1920s and 1940s, and through the voices of Fred, a Cambridge student who spent the summer on St Kilda studying rock formation, Chrissie an islander, and Rachel Anne.

I love the narrators' performance. Listening was tricky at first and I was a bit confused. After a while, the story starts to make sense and it's engrossing and rich with details that I found hard to put down.

Don't miss this fascinating story that blends romance, war, friendship, and the island's real history in one. The evacuation of St Kilda hit me the hardest. It's horrific, yet it's beautifully told. It doesn't make sense...!

This was a fascinating story and I loved how it was told. To think that for many, many years people could live on this breathtaking island with all of its restrictions and beauty.
Parts of this were heartbreaking, but beautifully written. It made me take pause at my busy life and left me wanting for a simpler life.
I chose to listen to this book on audio and the narrators were excellent. I highly recommend listening to it.
Thanks Dreamscape Media via Netgalley.

As much as I wanted to enjoy this book, I couldn't get into it. I know that the narrator with a heavy Irish accent was part of the appeal and brought a lot to the story, but I couldn't concentrate and understand what was being said. With that said, this is only a review on the audiobook. The physical book may be completely different. Unfortunately I didn't have that.

This is a beautiful, moving story that is perfectly narrated by the three readers chosen by the publisher.

The setting both in memory and as it was once is unique. St. Kilda’s was a small, very small island archipelago off the Scottish coast. It was evacuated under dire circumstances.

As this novel opens, a prisoner of war copes by remembering his past and a women that he knew on St. Kilda’s. Will they find their way back to each other? Spend time with Fred and others to find out. You will be moved.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

The Lost Lights of Kilda is a beautifully written love story set between WWII and prior to the time of evacuation of the infamous island of St. Kilda. Gifford’s vivid description of St Kilda will transport you instantly to the cliffs and ocean side of the island. From a historical perspective, Gifford does a phenomenal job of blending daily island life for its inhabitants to what life could have been for someone evacuating the island.


I typically do not lean towards romance novels but the two story lines flow effortlessly and keep you guessing until the very end where this love story ends. The Lost Lights of Kilda is a heartwarming story to lift the spirits and is definitely a must read for historical fiction lovers.

“For this much I have learned, the only things that stand are love and forgiveness, they are an island of hope glimpsed and not glimpsed among the pounding waves and the storms, but there still, always there, the lights guiding us home.”

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for access to the audiobook production of The Lost Lights of Kilda in exchange for a honest review.

St Kilda, a Scottish archipelago, is a place of stark beauty where Fred Lawson takes a job in the summer of 1927. He’s swept up in the small island community and falls deeply in love with Chrissie, an island native. Three years later, the islanders are rescued and removed from the island after nearly starving to death after destroying the islands riches – the many birds who lived there – for food and oil.In 1940, Fred finds himself in a POW camp after being captured by the Nazis. It’s his memories of his time on St. Kilda and the woman he vowed to always love, that keep him alive. I liked the way Gifford weaved together two significant historical events, one well known, the other forgotten by time, into a story of the power of love

The Lost Lights of St Kilda by Elisabeth Gifford and Narrated by Fiona McNeill; Geoffrey Newland; Diane Brooks is an amazing historical fiction that takes us into the rugged and stunning landscape of the islands that make up the archipelago of St Kilda. it is just beautiful.

I loved everything about this novel. The author has impressively woven a story that contains multiple timelines (all within the 1900s and mainly 1927 and 1940-41) and multiple points of view (Fred, Chrissie, and Rachel) into an absolutely haunting, beautiful, soaring, and bittersweet story that tells the tale of a love that spans the test of time and distance, a family separated and united…and of a culture, people, and existence within an isolated, historic, and proud group of inhabitants that have made a place for themselves in this westernmost location off of Scotland.

First of all, I loved learning more about this group of islands west of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The location, geography, history, people, culture, and transformation that took place as the years move onward.

The author is able to take that aspect and weave a story that involves not just its people, but also of a love story…and despite the great divide of so many things…a love that is able to find itself again despite the odds. It was beyond beautiful and stunning and I dare anyone read this and not have their breath taken away.

Just wonderful.

I am reviewing the audiobook which was also excellent. The narrators added just the perfect pacing, accents, and depth to make this a 5/5 hit.

Highly recommend.

Thank you NG and Dreamscape Media for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 1/6/22.