Storm-Wake is loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Moss has grown up on the strangest and most magical of islands; the story moves from her childhood to her teenaged years. The island is covered with brilliantly colored flowers which seem to have some hallucinogenic qualities. Her father has a plan to control the tempestuous weather that wracks the shores. Pa uses the hallucinogenic flowers to conjure up storms and to create spiritual beings from the sea (first a white horse, and then a fish-boy).  But the island seems to have a plan of its own once Callan — a wild boy her age — appears on its beaches. Her complex feelings for Callan shift with every tide, while her love for the island, and her father, are thrown into doubt.

And when one fateful day, when teenaged boys from the outside world wash up on the beach, speaking of the Old World, nothing will ever be the same.

This novel is unlike Lucy Christopher’s other novels. I am not sure that it is actually a YA book.  The writing is very lyrical and mystical. I found it hard to concentrate and had to re-read pages to try to understand. It’s an interesting fantasy tale, but not one I would highly recommend.