Where the World Ends - by Geraldine McCaughrean (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A Michael L. Printz Honor Book and Carnegie Medal Winner! New from Geraldine McCaughrean comes Where the World Ends, an extraordinary story of eight boys stranded on a rock in the middle of the sea, left to fight for their survival.

Every time a lad went fowling on the stacs, he came home less of a boy and more of a man. If he went home at all, that is.

Every summer Quill and his friends are put ashore on a remote sea stac to hunt birds. But this summer, no one arrives to take them home. Surely nothing but the end of the world can explain why they've been abandoned--cold, starving and clinging to life, in the grip of a murderous ocean. How will they survive such a forsaken place of stone and sea?

This is an extraordinary story of fortitude, endurance, tragedy and survival, set against an unforgettable backdrop of savage beauty.

Review Quotes

Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Winner of the Carnegie Medal
Book of the Month Club Selection
Kirkus Best Book of the Year
Junior Library Guild Selection
Indie Next Pick

"McCaughrean slips into the cracks of the human soul, dissecting with compassion the many paths that a person might take. Though this story is desperately sad at times, it glistens, too, propelled by the notion that where there is life, there is always, always hope." --Booklist, starred review

"An epic, nearly mythic tale. McCaughrean takes the bones of a real event, wraps it in immersive, imaginative detail and thoroughly real emotion, and creates an unforgettable tale of human survival. A masterpiece." --Kirkus, starred review

"McCaughrean's storytelling is as dramatic and harsh as the island itself. A stunning literary achievement." --BookPage, starred review

"Where the World Ends is a beautiful, sorrowful, poignant book with deeply drawn characters, a chilling atmosphere, and waves of emotion. Highly recommended." --New York Journal of Books

"Based on a true story, Where the World Ends stuns with its dark narrative and haunting visual imagery, exploring what happens when the everyday-ordinary turns disastrously extraordinary. Unforgettable." --Shelf Awareness

"Harshly beautiful, and stark with near-despair, this is an unsettling, deeply original historical novel." --The Guardian

"Emotionally thunderous." --The Sunday Times (UK)

"Unsettling and utterly gripping, Where the World Ends paints a stunning portrait of a desperate battle for survival and the different methods employed to keep the group--and their fears--under some sort of control. With its wonderful evocation of time and place, beautiful writing and compelling storyline, this is a stunning addition to McCaughrean's already impressive portfolio of books." --Lancashire Evening Post (UK)

"Based on a real event, this is a story that sings to the soul. It belongs in every school and library. This is stark, beautiful story-making...everything a magnificent read should be." --The Historical Novel Society

"This is the best book I've read this year. Extraordinary." --Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies

"From tragedy, McCaughrean has created a wonderful love story." --Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse

"Brilliant, beautiful, as unpredictable as the sea itself." --Philip Reeve, author of Mortal Engines

About the Author

Geraldine McCaughrean is the author of the Printz Award winner The White Darkness, the New York Times bestseller Peter Pan in Scarlet, and many other books for children and young adults. She is a two-time winner of the Carnegie Medal, once for Where the World Ends. Geraldine lives in Berkshire with her husband John and the lingering shades of all those characters she has invented in her books. Her cottage is under year-round siege from wild birds demanding to be fed. The ducks even knock on the door.