I recently finished Julia R. Kelly’s debut novel, “The Fisherman’s Gift,” and I can wholeheartedly declare that this remarkable author has earned a place on my must-read list for all her future works! From the moment I read the synopsis, I had a strong feeling that this book would resonate with me, but it far exceeded my expectations.

This novel is a true gem, brimming with originality and profound emotion. Each page reveals intricate layers of storytelling, skillfully woven together with several captivating mysteries that keep the reader engaged and eager to unravel the threads of the plot. This novel has a mesmerizing quality that says in your thoughts long after you’ve turned the last page.

If you’re on the hunt for an exceptional book club selection, look no further—“The Fisherman’s Gift” is the perfect choice. It captures the complexities of the human experience in a way that is both heartwarming and heartbreakingly poignant. I would rate this gem a solid 5+++ stars; if I could, I would give it even more stars!

3.75⭐️ This was a good read but a bit too dour for me. Many of the main characters were unlikable for most of the book. I would have enjoyed it more if there evolution started a bit sooner.

I really enjoyed reading "The fisherman's gift". I was surprised to learn this is the authors first book. I will definitely be reading her next book.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for the preview copy for my honest review.
5 stars!

I loved The Fisherman’s Gift. I read over a hundred novels a year and it is rare to come across one as utterly unique as this one. This novel paints such a vivid picture in your head, I feel I could draw the sea, the village of Skerry and the cottages described so clearly. The characters are so real and so heartbreakingly human. The overall theme of isolation due to misunderstandings and lack of human connections is universal.
The novel reads like a cautionary fairytale and is so immersive that it was difficult to put down. This is a novel with heart whose characters will stay with you long after the last page. It is difficult to believe that this is a debut novel, it is so polished and the writing is so lovely. I believe this novel will appeal to a wide audience of readers who are searching for a substantial read. I know I will be recommending it to my reading friends and my book club.
Thank you to Emily Farebrother from Simon and Schuster for providing me with this Netgalley preview novel.

I absolutely loved this book and its' characters. BeautifulIy written, friendships, sad at times. Bonus that I read while in Scotland as we traveled the real villages!

Julia R. Kelly's The Fisherman's Gift is a beautiful meditation on parenthood, love, and community. Set in a small fishing village in Scotland in 1900 (and a few years earlier), this novel introduces us to Dorothy, a schoolteacher who isn't at ease with herself and has never quite fit into her community. When her 6 year old son is lost to the sea, she retreats even further. A number of years later, another boy - very like her own - appears and she takes him into her home. It isn't until Dorothy realizes that she was a good mother to her son that she is able to release herself of guilt and return this young boy to his family. I loved this quiet gift of a book.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC in September and read the book in early October.

A summary of the plot: In Skerry, a small Scottish fishing village, in 1900, during a winter storm, a young boy washes up on the shore. The mystery boy bears an astonishing resemblance to the town teacher Dorothy’s son, who disappeared in the sea at the same age many years before.

Initially lodged with the Minister’s family, the boy needs be housed elsewhere until he can be identified; Dorothy, on her own and childless, agrees to take him in. As time passes, the boy reminds Dorothy increasingly of her own lost child., and she begins to fantasize that he might be the lost child returned to her by the faeries.

These events also finally force Dorothy to confront her past, including her brief passionate love affair with Joseph, the fisherman who found the boy on the shore and who has been the subject of gossip connecting him to the drowning of Dorothy’s son years earlier.

The past mingles with the present; long-buried secrets come to light within this tight-knit community.

The characters are skillfully drawn. We have Dorothy Aitkin, a teacher from the big city who arrives in Skerry to take over the school. Joseph the fisherman. Numerous villagers. The dead son, Moses. The mystery boy. We learn each of their stories as the chapters unfold, going back and forth between “then” and “now”. People’s secrets are revealed, and how they relate to each other.

Initially, I was somewhat skeptical of the degree to which Dorothy’s sister-in-law held sway over Dorothy in the matter of child-rearing, but given how badly Dorothy had been treated by her own mother, her hesitation to assert herself as a parent became more believable. The way in which the stories of the main characters are woven together and revealed, somewhat like peeling back the layers of an onion, is masterful. The book’s ending was very satisfactory, I thought. I hope Julia Kelley is writing a new book; I look forward to reading it.

The Fisherman's Gift
by Julia R. Kelly
Pub Date: Mar 18, 2025
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
“The Fisherman’s Gift” is beautifully written, it’s mesmerizing and it’s heartbreaking. I highly recommend this to historical fiction readers and women’s fiction readers alike.
I read this note on Goodreads: "Since being confined to a wheelchair, Julia has learned to appreciate even more fully the journeys the written word can take us on. She lives in Herefordshire with her partner and between them, they have raised five wonderful children. The Fishersman’s Gift is her debut novel."
This touched me and really helped me enjoy the novel so much more!
Be ready for this one: it is an extremely difficult/sad read but it is written so well! This book took my breath away. It’s a wonderful story with relatable characters. Julia R. Kelly is gifted with words that transcend the page and travel right into your heart. There is sorrow, hope, trust, love and friendship and all of these feelings and relationships are intertwined in creating an unforgettable story.

Beautifully written story that transports the reader to a small fishing village in Scotland in the 1900s during the winter. A child is found on the shore after a storm. This sets off a chain of events that bring up the past for many villagers. It is a story of unrequited love, kept secrets and the tragic events that follow. I sincerely hope that this will not be the last book Ms. Kelly writes as I look forward to reading other books written by this author,

This is a sad yet beautiful story about a lost boy and his grieving mother. It’s about life in a small fishing village and how things are never quite as they appear. It is also about love and redemption when you least expect it.

In the years after losing her young son at sea, Dorothy feels like an outcast in her small village. The village folks talk about her but rarely to her. When a young boy that looks eerily similar to her own lost son washes ashore after a bad storm, Dorothy needs to see him, needs to touch him. Could it be Moses, her boy? That doesn’t make sense, but Dorothy can’t get past it. The local Minister asks Dorothy if she could care for this boy until he heals and his folks can be located. As it turns out, they heal each other.

“The Fisherman’s Gift” is beautifully written, it’s mesmerizing and it’s heartbreaking. I highly recommend this to historical fiction readers and women’s fiction readers alike. Thank you, NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advanced copy of this 5-star book.

A sweeping novel sure to please fans of historical fiction, The FIsherman's Gift did not disappoint. The story begins as a little boy is mysteriously found on the shores of Skerry during a storm in the early 20th century. We then meet Joseph, the fisherman who found the boy, and Dorothy, a teacher who lost her own son to the sea many years ago. As the town buzzes about the boy and his origins, Dorothy convinces herself that he could be her long lost son. Through flashbacks and point of views from various townspeople, we slowly piece together Dorothy's past and the truth about her son.

I really liked the different character perspectives in the book. The end left me wanting a bit more closure which is why I am giving 4 stars instead of 5. Overall, a very captivating historical novel.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The Fisherman's Gift will be published on March 18, 2025.

First, I want to thank both Simon & Schuster, along with NetGalley for providing me with the ARC of this beautifully written book. I am truly grateful for being able to experience the book early.

Julia R. Kelly transports the reader to a dreary Scottish fishing village and there, slowly peels back layers of pain and misunderstanding to reveal a beautiful and flawed MC we can all identify with. Oh how childhood trauma and judgment run our present day lives and instill a sense of fear that mutes our mouths and emotions.

The descriptions of a stormy, grey, wet, cold, rocky landscape bring the reader into the mind of Dorothy, who is constant turmoil and stress after the loss of her child, but before so, the loss of her self.

You’re constantly feeling Dorothy simply needs to “just say it.” Whatever the “it” may be for the particular situation in the book. This sense of frustration is perhaps exactly what Kelly wants the reader to feel and seems to be aligned with one of the main themes of book.

The prose are poetic and concise. A phenomenal book, a real story. Thank you Ms. Kelly.

This was a difficult read. It was written in a beautifully realistic historical prose but it had a painful sadness that made me what to scream. Each chapter carried more misunderstandings and more misfortunes, but….but I couldn’t put it down.
The author did a good job and I was swept in by the Scottish fishing village. Just get ready for some real hard things in this. I do recommend!
Thanks Simon & Schuster via NetGalley.

this is set in a small fishing village in Scotland. good character development. a little sad but a great story.

4.0. An interesting tale about a young woman, Dorothy, who leaves Edinburgh to teach in a small community on the sea in Skerry, Scotland in the early 1900s. It’s a hard and cold life in a town where everyone knows everyone and everything. Sad and heartbreaking at times and redemptive and uplifting at others. All characters are very well defined and relatable. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an advance copy in exchange for a candid and unbiased review.

I found this book to be somewhat of a sad tale of a small 1900’s fishing community and its people, each with a tale to tell that somehow intertwined amongst them. I call this book fiction with a little fantasy sprinkled within. I enjoyed the writing style, and the book kept me engrossed and entertained. Who was the little boy that recently washed up on the shore? What exactly happened to the little boy that was washed out to sea? Sadness and small town gossip propels this story in many different directions, but it is all neatly tied up at the end. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read copy.

A fascinating story filled with intrigue, friendship, love and healing. The writing was beautiful, and the connection I felt to the characters was profound.

The story was complex, and I couldn’t say exactly what genre it would fit into but it wasn’t like anything i’ve read in a while. It felt like a breath of fresh air.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

beautifully written book about a small fishing town in Scotland in the 1900's where rumors fly and everyone knows everyone else's business. Dorothy leaves the big city and a cold mother to teach school in this small community where the women find her standoffish.

Some years later, a small child is found in the water. When Dorothy sees him, it takes her breath away, he looks so much like her child that she lost to the sea when he was 6. But it can't be, it's been 15 years ago now. This event brings back so many memories, many painful, things she wished she'd done differently.

As this story unfolds, it engrosses you more and more until you can't stop reading, but must find out the truth. The prose is so lovely that it is soothing to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

In 1900 Skerry, a small fishing village in Scotland, a schoolteacher named Dorothy Gray shops at the local store. Out of the window, they see a local fisherman walking toward the store carrying something. As he gets closer, they realize it is a small child's body. The child is taken to the pastor's house to be treated. Dorothy is shocked, her son disappeared into the ocean years ago. Who could be missing a child? As events unfold, Dorothy is asked to care for this mysterious child. Will this be too much for Dorothy? The child is also a male, approximately 6 years old, who was the same size as her son when he disappeared.

As she cares for the child, Dorothy looks back on her life. Decisions she made and the outcomes leading to her current life. Since the disappearance of her son, she shut that part of her life off. Now she begins looking forward. Through her introspection, we see the details leading to the disappearance of her son, how her fractured relationships happened, and who she considers friends. Winter brings solitude as everyone reminisces and examines their part in the tragic events. Dorothy's healing is in her hands and only she can effect the change.

This fascinating story is full of intrigue, self-discovery, loss, and love. There are heavy hearts and guilty consciences to examine during this bleak winter coupled with a constant feeling of foreboding throughout this story. Fans of Wuthering Heights will enjoy this darkly moving story. Thank you NetGalley, Simon and Schuster, and Emily Farebrother for the advanced readers copy.

I've noticed that lately these types of stories are the ones that rate 5 stars for me. They don't really fall into a particular genre, other than they are simple yet deeply complex stories of life. In this case, life in the 1900's. As I always say, I know 100% that I would not have been tough enough to survive in that era. I'm way too lazy and soft, so I really enjoy reading about how people lived way back when. It shows you time and again that across time people are just people, struggling to get along, and oftentimes failing spectacularly. This was a heartachingly mesmerizing story that grabbed me quickly and left a lasting impact.