A Very Distant Shore: Quick Reads by Jenny Colgan

A Very Distant Shore: Quick Reads by Jenny Colgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wanted: doctor for small island. Must like boats, the seaside and having no hope of keeping a secret...

Lorna lives on the tiny Scottish island of Mure, a peaceful place where everyone helps their neighbour. But the local GP is retiring, and nobody wants his job. Mure is too small and too remote.

Far away, in a crowded camp, Saif is treating a little boy with a badly-cut hand. Saif is a refugee, but he's also a doctor: exactly what Mure needs.

Saif is welcome in Mure, but can he forget his past? Over one summer, Saif will find a place to call home, and Lorna's life will change forever.


I haven't had much time to read lately and was feeling like I was in a little reading slump. When I saw that 'Quick Reads' had released their new books for the year, I couldn't wait to get my hands on them. I decided to pick up this one by Jenny Colgan.

I have read a few Jenny Colgan books and I have always really enjoyed them. This is a short story (145 pages) and I managed to read this in a few hours. I really enjoyed this story, it was different to others I have previously read, focusing on a Syrian refugee and a small town in Scotland.

I really got into this and couldn't believe how quick I was whizzing through it. I don't want to mention the story line as it is so short and would be worried about giving it away. Although I did really enjoy it and felt like I was in Lorna's world, I also did find that at the end of the book I had many unanswered questions and the book did feel very unfinished. I do believe that these characters will be featuring in Jenny Colgan's new book which is of full length, we get a sample of this at the end of story. I believe this though follows Lorna's best friend Flora, who we do meet in this book.

Personally I would have preferred to have this a little longer as I was enjoying it so much and felt it came to an abrupt ending. I also was a little shocked by the book as I didn't expect it to pan out in the way it did, I am hoping that in the full length novel Lorna is a prominent character as I am hoping to discover some of the answers to my questions. This short story is completely heartbreaking and it felt a lot longer than it actually was due to everything that happens in it.