The Island of Lost Girls: A Novel

“A stunning, genre-defying novel, poetic, immersive, and as dazzling as the Mediterranean sun even as it pulls the reader through the darkest corridors of human behavior. I was totally mesmerized. . . . Alex Marwood is in a class of her own.”—Lisa Jewell

“A stiletto of a novel: heart stopping and devastating.”—Jenny Colgan

"Sun-drenched glamour and obscene wealth hide evil secrets in this ripped-from-the-headlines thriller about money, corruption, power and lost innocence from “one of crime fiction's brightest stars” (Megan Abbott), the Edgar and Macavity Award-winning author of The Wicked Girls and The Killer Next Door.

Library Hardcover Edition

It's paradise for the super-rich, but hell for the girls whose lives they've stolen

1985

To twelve-year-old Mercedes, La Kastellana is home, an island with deep-rooted traditions untouched by the modern world. But this secluded paradise is upended with the arrival of multimillionaire Matthew Meade and his pampered young daughter, Tatiana. While the Meades lavishly spread unimaginable wealth around La Kastellana, the price Mercedes and the rest of the islanders will pay is more than they could ever have imagined.

2016

Robin has been desperately searching for her seventeen-year-old daughter Gemma, who’s been missing for more than a year. Finding herself on La Kastellana, an island playground for the international jet set, Robin quickly realizes she’s out of her depth. No one is willing to help and Robin fears she’s running out of time to find her child.

But someone has been watching, silently waiting for the moment to expose the dark truth of what really happens on the island of lost girls.

“The idyllic Mediterranean isle of La Kastellana is fictional, but much of what transpires there is all too real in this disturbing thriller. . . . Marwood builds her ripped-from-the-headlines premise into something sprawling and admirably ambitious.” - Publishers Weekly

“Pulses with mythic energy and devilishly clever storytelling.” - Irish Times, Best Books of 2022

“Thrilling and full of dark secrets. . . . Alex Marwood knows how to keep and hold my full-attention. I highly recommend this new novel to all true crime and suspense readers.” - Urban Book Reviews

“In addition to the story of a mother and daughter, Marwood wrings unlikely suspense from the fate of the tourism industry: Will the island become ‘the new Capri,’ as Meade is advertising it, or will the disappearing girls scare off the professional partiers?” - Washington Post

“Intense . . . . [The] subject matter [rings] so true.” - Bookreporter.com

"Gripping, timely and beautifully written. Marwood blends story-telling prowess with characters so real that we inhabit their predicaments quite viscerally. The result is irresistible." - Sophie Hannah, author of The Killings at Kingfisher Hill

"A stunning, genre-defying novel, poetic, immersive, and as dazzling as the Mediterranean sun even as it pulls the reader through the darkest corridors of human behavior. I was totally mesmerized, from the beautiful, slow-burn opening chapters right through to the gripping, stomach-churning finale. Alex Marwood is in a class of her own." - Lisa Jewell, author of The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone

"A ripped-from-the-headlines thriller that is both compassionate and chilling . . . I couldn't put it down." - Mark Edwards, author of The Hollows

"A stiletto of a novel: heart stopping and devastating." - Jenny Colgan, author of An Island Wedding and The Bookshop on the Corner

"One of crime fiction's brightest stars." - Megan Abbott, author of The Turnout

"A blisteringly immersive summer read." - Emma Styles, author of No Country for Girls

"This thriller travels to some very dark places: missing girls, cruel traditions, abusive fathers. Where it shines brightest, though, is in its insightful, compassionate depiction of the relationship between Robin and Gemma." - The Observer

"No author is better suited to such grim material than Alex Marwood, who has a gift for dramatizing the most irredeemably toxic characters and situations. This meticulously plotted tale tacks dexterously between past and present, and the unfolding revelations feel both shocking and inevitable . . . beautiful and terrifying."  - Irish Times

“An absorbing page-turner I didn’t want to put down. . . . If you’re the kind of reader who loves dark stories, where the hearts are barely beating, then you’ll love the slow burn chill in The Island of Lost Girls, whose web of a plot draws you in until you can’t imagine an escape.” - Entertainment Focus