Book Details

In early 1942, over 500 Italian prisoners of war captured in North Africa were brought to Orkney to labour on the construction of the Churchill Barriers. The windswept islands must have seemed like the bleakest place on earth to these Mediterranean-born men, condemned to back-breaking labour mixing and shovelling concrete.

Amazingly, the men decided to use the scrap they found to convert one of the abandoned bunkers surrounding them into an incredibly intricate and beautiful Chapel. A testament to human perseverance and faith, the Italian chapel that stands on Lamb Holm, visited by thousands every year still remains intact, while the POW camp has long since been claimed by the sheep of Orkney.

This is the true story that inspired Kirsten McKenzie's elegant debut novel, The Chapel at the Edge of the World.
Emilio and Rosa are childhood sweethearts, engaged to be married. Their life together already mapped out, but as 1942 descends and war sweeps away all certainty, their paths split unexpectedly. Barely off the boats in North Africa, Emilio is captured and dispatched to a POW camp in Orkney. All that Rosa can do is wait for him to return. Feeling increasingly frustrated with his situation, Emilio is inspired by the idea of turning a Nissen hut into a chapel on the barren island. The prisoners band together to create an extraordinary building out of little more than salvaged odds and ends, concrete and homemade paints.

Whilst Emilio's chapel will remain as a monument to human resilience and artistry, will his love for Rosa survive the hardships of war and separation? For Rosa is no longer the girl he left behind. She is being drawn further into the Italian resistance movement and closer to danger, as allegiances are made ever more complicated by the war. Human perseverance lies at the heart of this strong debut, and the two landscapes of Orkney and Italy are beautifully evoked in McKenzie's distinctive spare prose.