Sarah Tolmie is an author known for her extensive 120-sonnet sequence and her experimental fiction, including a novel and a short story collection. Trained as a medievalist at the University of Toronto and Cambridge, she brings a deep understanding of the medieval period to her work. Her writing possesses a unique voice that resonates with literary traditions while offering a contemporary perspective. Readers will appreciate her skill in weaving history with fiction to create compelling narratives.
Filled with the magic and darkened whispers of a people on the cusp of major cultural change, this tale follows a Norse trader on his travels through Central Asia, where he barters for horses and returns with much, much more.
Dark, mournful, and beautiful, Sarah Tolmie's The Fourth Island is a moving and unforgettable story of life and death on the hidden Irish island of Inis Caillte. Huddled in the sea off the coast of Ireland is a fourth Aran Island, a secret island peopled by the lost, findable only in moments of despair. Whether drowned at sea, trampled by Cromwell's soldiers, or exiled for clinging to the dead, no outsiders reach the island without giving in to dark emotion. Time and again, The Fourth Island weaves a hypnotic pattern with its prose, presaging doom before walking back through the sweet and sour moments of lives not yet lost. It beautifully melds the certainty of loss with the joys of living, drawing readers under like the tide.