The Language of Sand - Ellen Block

The Language of Sand: A Novel by Ellen Block


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was a very quick read with enjoyable characters and a wonderful setting.


After losing her husband and young son in a tragic fire, Abigail has moved to Chapel Isle off the North Carolina coast as the caretaker for a lighthouse, hoping to connect in someway with the island that her late husband loved as a boy. When she arrives, she finds the lighthouse possibly haunted and quite run-down; the town full of colorful characters and herself changing from the Abigail she has always known into simply Abby.

I found it an enjoyable read, one that kept me turning the pages but left me in the end wishing that there had  been more depth to many of the characters and more story behind the haunting of the lighthouse. It did feel as if the last 1/4 of the book was rushed a bit and could have been played out with more depth, but all in all a nice light read.

One of my favorite quotes from The Language of Sand was from a scene where Abigail was unpacking all of her books that she had brought to the island with her:
"As she organized, she allowed herself to read the first few pages of each book, tasting the story or sampling a morsel from a text.  It was as if she were bumping into an aquaintance on the street-Abigail couldn't simply pass them by."

Happy Reading!