The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 288

Publisher: Chicken House 

Released: 4th of May 2017 

Ami lives with her mother on an island where the sea is as blue as the sky. It’s all she knows and loves, but the arrival of malicious government official Mr Zamora changes her world forever: her island is to be made into a colony for lepers. Taken from her mother and banished across the sea, Ami faces an uncertain future in an orphanage. There she meets a honey-eyed girl named for butterflies, and together they discover a secret that will lead her on an adventure home. Ami must go back to the island of no return, but will she make it in time?

What I have to Say 

I think this was even more beautiful than the Girl of Ink and Stars. There was just something about the love involved in it. The way that Ami was fighting to get back to her mother. 

The treatment of Leprosy was really interesting. I didn't know much about it before, but it was really cool to see Ami's home, how the colony had a whole society with different words to talk about people with Leprosy because so much of the illness is based around slurs and misinformation. 

The only thing that I disliked was that the bad guy was portrayed with OCD and it was used a lot to show how scared he was of the disease. I understand completely how many people were scared of Leprosy. I have OCD, I know I would have reacted the same way as Mr Zamora. And it just made me so uncomfortable to have my illness portrayed with me, even though the main characters did pity him and say he was sick rather than hate him more for it. 

I liked the butterflies and the symbolism though. I want to be a butterfly zookeeper! 

My thanks go to Chicken House for providing me with this copy for review.