Billie's Kiss

In the spring of 1903 the Gustav Edda blows up as it reaches port on Kissack and Skilling, a remote, divided Scottish island, and most of those on board are killed. Twenty-year-old Billie Paxton survives because she jumped from the ship to the shore just before the blast, and she will not explain why. Murdo Hesketh, a fellow passenger, and Lord Hallowhulme, the island's owner and Murdo's employer, whose schemes for the islanders are disputed, begin to suspect her. Meanwhile a butler, Geordie Betler, travels to the island's main town to find out how his younger brother died in the explosion. The mystery turns into a strange love story, an Edwardian reworking of The Tempest that takes in murder, eugenics, progress and prejudice.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Historical, Crime, Love (assigned by AI)

Set in

United Kingdom, 1903

First published

2002

Author's age

43 when first published

ISBN

9780864734266 (Victoria University Press, New Zealand)

9780701173500 (Chatto & Windus, United Kingdom)

9780345450524 (Ballantine Books, United States)

9780345450517 (Ballantine Books, United States)

9780099437543 (Vintage, United Kingdom)

9780099541943 (Vintage, United Kingdom)