The Vines

Shelley Nolden

Mar 2021 · Freiling Publishing · Narrated by Jess Nahikian

About this audiobook

In the shadows of New York City lies forbidden North Brother Island, where the remains of a shuttered hospital hide the haunting memories of century-old quarantines and human experiments. The ruins conceal the scarred and beautiful Cora, imprisoned by contagions and the doctors who torment her. When Finn, a young urban explorer, arrives on the island and glimpses this enigmatic woman through the foliage, intrigue turns to obsession as he seeks to uncover her past--and his own family's dark secrets. By unraveling these mysteries, will he be able to save Cora? Will Cora meet the same tragic ending as the thousands who've already perished on the island? The Vines intertwines North Brother Island's horrific and elusive history with a captivating tale of love, betrayal, survival, and loss.

Praise for The Vines:

"The Vines weaves beautiful writing around an unsettling mystery: Who is the strange, scarred woman living on a seemingly uninhabitable island? Shelley Nolden's debut seems not just prescient - given the world's current focus on virology and immunizations - but also timeless, as it illustrates in painful detail how mankind seems destined to repeat our cruelest mistakes. Luckily for us readers, there's a bright thread of hope running through this book - as well as the promise of a sequel."

—Sarah Pekkanen, #1 NYT bestselling co-author of You Are Not Alone

“Drawing on both the dark history of North Brother Island and today’s painfully immediate worries about immunity and transmission of deadly disease, this debut transcends genre to combine history, thrills, obsession, medical ethics, and more into the compelling story of three generations of doctors and one remarkable woman.”

— Greer Macallister, bestselling author of The Magician’s Lie and The Arctic Fury

Ratings and reviews

Thanks to NetGalley, Freiling publishing, and the author Shelley Nolden for this ARC copy in exchange for an honest review! This story is about Finn Gettler, a descendant of medical researchers/microbiologists who have been trying for generations to create vaccines for highly contagious diseases. This study takes place over many years, going back and forth between past and present and eventually tying it all together. Finn’s family (Finn excluded) have been conducting medical procedures/testing on patients on North Brother Island at Riverside Hospital, a quarantine hospital for those suffering from contagious diseases such as small pox, typhus, tuberculosis, etc. The testing however, very cruel, inhumane, and often against the will/rights of the participants. Finn who is left in the dark of it all, is after answers about his family and their past, trying to help a young woman named Cora, who still resides at Riverside hospital under experimentation of the Gettler family. This book did take me a while to really get into, I wasn’t really captured until around the 35 percent mark but once I got past that I did really enjoy it. I found it very interesting to read about the real life events that actually happened on North Brother Island. I was infuriated reading about the inhumane medical procedures and experimentation on these poor souls and found some parts hard to read, but couldn’t put the book down at the same time. I very much enjoyed this book and can not wait to read the sequel to pick up where it leaves off. The writing was very well done and flowed well, excellent character development and a really interesting and unique read. The sequel can’t come soon enough. Definitely recommend!!