Hy Brasil

After fraudulently winning a writing competition, Sidony Redruth is sent by her editor to write the first-ever travel book on Hy Brasil, a near-mythical island somewhere in the Atlantic, whose very existence has been a matter of debate as late as the nineteenth century. Elphinstone’s plot takes the island location as its starting point, throws in some old-fashioned piracy, a lost treasure, modern-day drug smuggling, political intrigue, an active volcano and a tragic love affair. Told through Sidony’s notes for her book, Hy Brasil has all the elements of an adult adventure story, but it is also a contemporary thriller with literary influences ranging from The Tempest and Treasure Island to Moby-Dick.

Reviews of Hy Brasil

* Every other page, it seems, is gilded with erudite detail, bringing the saga templates to life … It's a refreshing delight to read a novel of such extremely high calibre which interweaves mythical, magical and historical … Elphinstone is a worthy successor to writers like Linklater and Mackay Brown, developing their themes in the new century with a voice which is distinctly her own. Herald * As warm and inviting as a hot spring on a clear winter day. The Times, on The Sea Road * A canny, graceful writer whose prose is as clear and clean as Greenland air … This is historical fiction at its best, and the quality of Elphinstone's prose shines from every page. Globe and Mail (Toronto) on The Sea Road.