A haunting psychological suspense novel about a young woman who visits her remote family cottage seeking answers to a murky past—for fans of Catherine McKenzie and Amber Cowie.

When her estranged father goes missing, Jude is persuaded by her mother to find his will. She travels to the family cottage on remote Gull Island, glad to be away from the city and to have the chance to sort through old memories, but is unsettled by what she finds there.

While contending with the neglected cottage and encroaching wild animals, Jude looks not only for her father’s will, but also for photographs of herself as a baby, desperate for proof that she was loved as a child. However, loneliness and terrifying dreams soon wear on her, bringing back frightening memories. Thoughts of her distant mother and intimidating father, her jealous sister, and her mother’s mysterious friend infest Jude’s increasingly clouded mind.

Then a fierce storm sweeps away her boat and severs her from the outside world. Forced to reckon with long-buried truths and filled with the terrible sense that the cottage may be haunted by more than the past, Jude begins to fear for her sanity—and her life.

Anna Porter was born in Budapest, Hungary, during the Second World War and escaped with her mother at the end of the 1956 revolution to New Zealand, where she graduated with an MA from Christchurch University. Like so many young Kiwis, after graduation she travelled to London, England, where she had her first taste of publishing. In 1968, she arrived in Canada, and was soon swept up in the cultural explosion of the 1970s. At McClelland & Stewart, run by the flamboyant Jack McClelland, she quickly found herself at the heart of Canadian publishing. In 1982, she founded Key Porter Books and published such national figures as Farley Mowat, Jean Chrétien, Conrad Black, and Allan Fotheringham. She went on to write both fiction and nonfiction works, including Kasztner’s Train, which won the Writers’ Trust Nonfiction Prize and the Jewish Book Award, The Ghosts of Europe, which won the Shaughnessey Cohen Prize for Political Writing, and has published four mystery novels. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Order of Ontario. She lives in Toronto with her husband, Julian Porter. Visit her at AnnaPorter.ca.

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“A real tour de force, with a strong sense of place, memorable characters, and a tightly wound plot. I was entirely caught up in the intrusions of nature, buried secrets, imperfect memories, and personal failings.”
— ANNE GIARDINI, bestselling author of Advice for Italian Boys and The Sad Truth About Happiness

“Porter delivers a powerful psychological thriller set in Ontario cottage country. . . . A real page-turner.”
— Everything Zoomer

“[A]n author of dazzling versatility who can move confidently from serious nonfiction to the escapist pleasures of the mystery novel. . . . [A] taut psychological thriller.”
— Montreal Gazette

“[T]his new mystery from Order of Canada publisher/author Anna Porter is absolutely brilliant, utterly mesmerizing. . . . Gull Island is splendidly written, and this hellish family will make your own kinfolk look a whole lot better. Even the in-laws.”
— Winnipeg Free Press

“[The] ending had me thinking about this book long after I had finished reading it. . . . A compelling read with some great twists to keep the reader engaged and guessing.”
— TO Times

“This is a dark and moody book, almost gothic. . . . Porter makes brilliant use of the unreliable narrator in her main character, Jude. . . . It speaks to Porter’s mastery that she is able to weave this story to its tragic conclusion so subtly, and even that end is lush with unanswered—but satisfying—questions.”
— The Miramichi Reader

“Set in a terrifyingly remote cottage, Gull Island is buoyed by skilled pacing, tense plotting, and a haunting conclusion about the inescapable power and presence of family bonds and betrayals. A transportive and creepy contemplation of the insidious nature of memory and place.”
— AMBER COWIE, author of Last One Alive

“A deep dive into a darkly troubled family that is overflowing with razor-sharp characterizations.”
— LINWOOD BARCLAY, New York Times bestselling author of The Lie Maker and Take Your Breath Away

“Full of atmosphere and things that go bump in the night, Gull Island is sure to leave you guessing about what is real and what is imagined until the very last page.”
— CATHERINE McKENZIE, USA Today bestselling author of Have You Seen Her and I’ll Never Tell

“Porter isn’t afraid to explore dark places, and she masterfully leads readers through Jude’s turmoil.”
— Jewish Independent