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A soaring, propulsive, and unforgettable novel about two zookeepers at the last zoo in the world.
Camille has always preferred animals to people. The wild has nearly disappeared, but as a zookeeper at the last zoo in the world, on Alcatraz Island, she spends her days caring for playful chimpanzees, gentle tree frogs, and a restless jaguar. Outside, resistance groups and brutal cartels fight to shape the world's future, but Camille is safe within her routines. That is, until a new zookeeper, Sailor, arrives from Paris.
From their first meeting, Camille is drawn to Sailor, who seems to see something in Camille that no one has before. They bond over their shared passions and dream up ways to improve their lives. When Sailor whispers the story of an idyllic, secret sanctuary where wild animals roam free, Camille begins to imagine a new kind of life with Sailor by her side.
Sailor knows all too well the dangers beyond Alcatraz, but she increasingly chafes at the zoo's rigid rules. She hatches a reckless plan to smuggle one of the most prized animals off the island to freedom, and invites Camille to join her. The consequences if they fail would be catastrophic, and Sailor's contacts at the sanctuary go dark just as the threats from the cartels grow more extreme. Camille must decide if she's ready to risk everything for the promise of a better world.
Propulsive and fiercely hopeful, with a heart-stopping final twist, The Island of Last Things is an elegy for a disappearing world and a gorgeous vision for the future.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (10/30/2025)
...starting the new Three Pines novel by Louise Penny: THE BLACK WOLF. On audio I've just finished A GOOD LIFE by Virginie Grimaldi and I'm moving on to THE ISLAND OF LAST THINGS by Emma Sloley (this is another Texas Book Festival author).
-Anne_Glasgow
"Electric…A moving and elegiac cautionary tale about the state of the world, and the beauty that we so often take for granted. An all-too-plausible look at what the future might hold for the natural world and the people who strive to protect it." —Kirkus Reviews
"Dramatic, twisty…Sloley explores interconnectedness and the ways people can care for each other in this work of climate fiction that gives equal space and consideration to both human and animal characters." —Library Journal
"Absorbing, daring, and ultimately hopeful, The Island of Last Things is at once a love letter to the natural world and a warning of what could become of us all if we let it wither." ―Talia Lakshmi Kolluri, author of What We Fed To The Manticore
This information about The Island of Last Things was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Emma Sloley is a two-time MacDowell fellow and Bread Loaf scholar. She is the author of the novels The Island of Last Things and Disaster's Children, and her work has been published in Literary Hub, Catapult, Joyland, and many others.
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Every good journalist has a novel in him - which is an excellent place for it.
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