Backlist Book Club: #1

And a GIVEAWAY!!

Welcome to Backlist Book Club, where once a month I’m going to feature a book from my own back list—telling you a little bit about the inspiration, sharing any fun tidbits about it—or a book that I loved a while ago and think deserves some more hype.

To kick us off, I’m going to share with you one of my favourite books of all time: The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
The MC is a young widow called Piper, who lives on Frick Island, a tincy-tiny island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. The problem is she’s acting like her husband isn’t dead. And the most incredible thing? The whole island are going along with it. When she goes to the docks each morning to wave him off on the fishing boat, his old colleagues go along with it, and when she goes to dinner at the only pub in town (I think if memory recalls), the staff there serve her husband dinner too, and the other residents of the island all come up and talk to her AND Tom as if he’s still right there beside her!

Now if that isn’t the quirkiest premise for a novel, I don’t know what is!

It’s all going swimmingly, until a journalist comes across from the mainland to cover the dullest story ever - the annual Cake Walk fundraiser - and hears about Piper’s “invisible” husband. Convinced this might be the biggest story of his flailing career, he goes back to the island to try and get to the bottom of it.

And of course, he starts falling for the widow.

WHY I LOVED IT?
Apart from the totally unique premise - why didn’t I think of it?!! - this book is the perfect blend of heart, humour, and a touch of mystery, because Tom’s body has never been recovered. Is he really even dead? The setting is the sweetest, quirkiest small town, which is my absolute jam and the characters are all so real and charismatic as well.

We need more island books!

I really felt for Piper - so young and widowed and grieving in the only way she can - but the story was also about climate change as the island is under threat due to rising sea levels, which added another layer of stress for the community.

There is SO much depth to this book and so much going on that I was heartbroken when I finished it. Definitely time for a re-read!

FUN FACTS:

• Colleen Oakley was inspired by real-life Smith Island, a place she visited two decades before writing the book and which fascinated her.

• The story was also inspired by a newspaper article she read about a woman in Australia who was in such denial that her husband had died, that she left him in the bed in her house when he died — and continued living her life not acknowledging his death until a neighbour noticed an…odour.

• She also mentions the movie, Lars and the Real Girl, as another inspiration. I haven’t watched this movie but after googling it, I need to!

• Apparently she rarely gets dressed before 1.30pm - you and me both, girlfriend!

This is truly one of the books I recommend to everyone I know. I’ve read other Colleen Oakley’s books and am working my way through her backlist (they’re all almost as fabulous as my fave) and I’m on a mission to get her better known in Australia.

Her newbie - Dan and Jane at the End of the World - just arrived on my doorstep last week and by the time you read this, I’ll hopefully have read (most of) it on the plane to New Zealand. SO excited about the book AND the trip.

This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Jodie Fitzsimons who won her own fabulous copy of THE INVISIBLE HUSBAND OF FRICK ISLAND.

PS. Colleen - if you’re reading this, will you be my new bestie?