Where the World Ends

Story

It is 1727. A group of three men and nine boys have sailed to a remote sea stac in the St Kilda archipelago, to the west of mainland Scotland, to hunt birds. They expect to stay for up to three weeks, but no one comes to fetch them and they have to try to survive, in perilous conditions, not knowing what has happened at home.

Why we chose it

The Isle of Kilda is both beautiful and stark and so is this atmospheric and compelling story. Based on a historical event about which only the bare minimum is known, the story draws the reader in to the harsh landscape and the harsh lives of the boys.

Where it came from

Geraldine McCaughrean (1951 - ) has written over 170 books, mostly for children. This book is based on a true story, although not much is known about the men and boys who really did have to try and survive on the sea stac. The author imagines what this experience might have been like for each one of them.

Where it went next

This book won the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2018. The author also won in 1988 with A Pack of Lies.

Associated stories

Geraldine McCaughrean wrote the official sequel to Peter Pan, Peter Pan in Scarlet (published in 2006) and has also written several retellings of myths and legends and classic stories.

Other adventure novels for young teens include Not the End of the World, the story of Noah told by his 14 year old daughter, The Middle of Nowhere, set in the Australian outback, The Death Defying Pepper Roux in which Pepper tries to escape the prediction that he will die on his 14^th birthday, The White Darkness, set in the Antarctic and Pull Out All the Stops and its sequel Stop the Train, set in Oklahoma in the 1890s.