Gather the daughters - Jennie Melamed

GATHER THE DAUGHTERS is a haunting story of an isolated island cult for fans of THE HANDMAID'S TALE, THE GIRLS and THE POWER. 'An intriguing, gorgeously realised and written novel which inexorably draws you into its dark heart' Kate Hamer

On a small isolated island, there's a community that lives by its own rules. Boys grow up knowing they will one day reign inside and outside the home, while girls know they will be married and pregnant within moments of hitting womanhood.

But before that time comes, there is an island ritual that offers children an exhilarating reprieve. Every summer they are turned out onto their doorsteps to roam wild: they run, they fight, they sleep on the beach and build camps in trees. They are free.

It is at the end of one of these summers, as the first frost laces the ground, that one of the younger girls witnesses something she was never supposed to see. And she returns home, muddy and terrified, clutching in her small hand a truth that could unravel their carefully constructed island world forever.