On my To Be Read Pile: Stangers at the port

While wandering through a cozy little library on holiday, I stumbled upon a book with a blurb that stopped me in my tracks. It was a brief description, just a handful of lines, yet it painted a vivid picture that has lingered with me ever since.

The story follows Giulia, a ten-year-old girl living on the greenest island in a volcanic archipelago, a place she has never left. Her world is small and intimate, shaped by rituals, community, and the bonds she shares with her older sister Giovanna—and her donkey, whom she naively believes she'll marry one day. Their life is steeped in the timeless rhythms of island life, a seemingly idyllic existence untouched by the outside world.

But then, the blurb hinted at a turning point. A foreign yacht anchors at the port, the men arrive, and the island's vines begin to fail. A subtle shift that suggests a rupture in the sisters' world, where the peace and isolation they've known might unravel.

I haven't started reading it yet, but this book is now firmly on my TBR pile. That excerpt alone has left me with so many questions—what happens to Giulia and Giovanna? How does their world change?—and I can't wait to dive into this intriguing story.