I enjoyed this atmospheric book that had a little bit of mystery and a lot of coming of age. 12 year old Lucretia Sanderson and her mother, leave their home in Vermont for the touristy but remote Candle Island, to retain some privacy after Lucretia's father dies. Why do they need privacy? Because Lucretia's mother is a famous painter, so famous that one of her paintings was bought by the first lady and hangs in the White House.

Their move to Candle Island is not without challenges, and many of those challenges kept me invested in the story. We have an Outsiders like town rift between townies and summer vacationers, especially those wealthy city folks who have vacation homes and come to the island every summer. (It's very Greasers vs. Socs.) We have a kid who used to live in Lucretia's house who comes off very hostile to her, and another kid who she ends up befriending. We have a lot of animals that Lucretia takes care of, including an injured osprey that she names Gullivan (it's very My Side of the Mountain). And there are clearly some secrets that are being hidden.

The only thing that bothered me during the read was that I could not place the time. Wolk never gives us a date or year! It's pretty clear that it's not in current times (a valuable painting that constitutes grand larceny is only $3000), but then there's mention of sports cars and some other touches that make it clear that it isn't that long ago either. (Afterwards I looked it up and in an interview Wolk says it's probably around 1967 which I wish I had known before the read.)

All in all, this was a unique but very distinct middle grade historical fiction with a little bit of everything.