From the Author of the National Book Award Finalist News of the World

Paulette Jiles, the bestselling author of the highly praised novels The Color of Lightning, Stormy Weather, and Enemy Women, pushes into new territory with Lighthouse Island—a captivating and atmospheric story set in the far future—a literary dystopian tale resonant with love and hope.

In the coming centuries the world's population has exploded. The earth is crowded with cities, animals are nearly all extinct, and drought is so widespread that water is rationed. There are no maps, no borders, no numbered years, and no freedom, except for an elite few.
It is a harsh world for an orphan like Nadia Stepan. Growing up, she dreams of a green vacation spot called Lighthouse Island, in a place called the Pacific Northwest.

When an opportunity for escape arises, Nadia embarks on a dangerous and sometimes comic adventure. Along the way she meets a man who changes the course of her life: James Orotov, a mapmaker and demolition expert. Together, they evade arrest and head north toward a place of wild beauty that lies beyond the megapolis—Lighthouse Island.

PAULETE JILES was born and raised in the Missouri Ozarks and moved to Canada in 1969. She spent eight years as a journalist for the CBC in northern Ontario. She is the bestselling author of Enemy Women, a New York Times Notable Book, and winner of the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Women Writing the West’s Willa Literary Award. She has also won the Governor General’s Award for Poetry. Paulette Jiles lives in the Texas hill country near San Antonio.

Paulette Jiles' profile page

“Jiles’s prose is a striking match for the barren landscape of this moody adventure tale.” — Publishers Weekly on LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND

“A remarkably engaging story. . . . Jiles’s description is memorable and evocative.” — Denver Post on THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING

“[A] meticulously researched and beautifully crafted story . . . this is glorious work.” — Washington Post on THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING

“A gripping, deeply relevant book.” — New York Times Book Review on THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING

“A rousing, character-driven tale.” — Kirkus Reviews on THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING

“Jiles’ spare and melancholy prose is the perfect language for this tale in which survival necessitates brutality.” — Seattle Times on THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING

“Lighthouse Island is a beacon of hope for Nadia, the clever, resourceful young heroine of Paulette Jiles’ spellbinding new novel. . . . Jiles’ writing is crisp and vivid as always, and although her setting is vastly different, her themes--independence, individuality, love of the land--remain intact.” — San Antonio Express-News on LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND

“Nadia’s wandering journey maintains that hopeful anticipation of deep sleep. . . Jiles (Color of Lightening; Stormy Weather) has created a fascinating dystopic vision of a future world.” — Library Journal on LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND

“The dystopian novel is beautifully written, and Jiles’ scenes of [protagonist] Nadia navigating the crumbling cityscape and her surreal interactions with the many desperate characters are vivid, shocking and often darkly funny.” — Columbus Dispatch on LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND

“[I]nventive futurism and rollicking wit.” — New York Times Book Review on LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND