An Island Apart — Lillian Beckwith

Kirsty MacLennan is the cook at Islay, a respectable guest-house in a Scottish suburb. When her employer retires and the irritable Isabel takes her place, Kirsty decides it is time to leave - but where will she go?
Her dilemma is unexpectedly solved by Islander Ruari MacDonald, one of the guests at Islay, who has come to the city in search of a wife. Accepting his proposal, Kirsty leaves her old life behind and takes up residence on Westisle, an idyllic small island uninhabited except for the MacDonald brothers.
As Kirsty joyfully rediscovers her Hebridean roots and adapts herself to the mysteries of marriage and the challenge of a rigorous new working routine, only one thing stands in her way - the silent, brooding presence of her brother-in-law.
A haunting story of love and loss, An Island Apart is one of Lillian Beckwith's most magical and elegiac evocations of island life.