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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Islands of Mercy is a hard book to summarise and review because there is a large cast of characters with many interwoven storylines. At the centre is Jane Adeane. When we first meet her it’s 1865 and she is working with her father, a doctor and surgeon in the town of Bath. Jane is known as the Angel of Baths for the assistance she provides those seeking cure in the waters. After rejecting a proposal from father’s assistant Valentine she flees to her aunt’s place in London, is introduced to Bohemian life and begins a passionate affair with a married woman named Julietta. For me personally the novel was at its strongest when focussing on Jane.
Parts of the novel took place in Borneo where Valentine’s brother, a naturalist, has contracted malaria and is being cared for by a British man who was discharged from the army for homosexuality and is now attempting to improve the life of the indigenous peoples, but in a rather half-hearted and somewhat clueless way. These sections did not work as well for me and didn’t feel well connected to what I felt were the main storylines in Bath.
Tremain wrote some beautiful passages and I loved seeing how themes such as passions (and not just sexual ones) vs conventionality, colonialism, and finding sanctuary played out in different characters and different locations. Bits of this story I really loved but as a whole it didn’t fully coalesce or entirely work for me.
Parts of the novel took place in Borneo where Valentine’s brother, a naturalist, has contracted malaria and is being cared for by a British man who was discharged from the army for homosexuality and is now attempting to improve the life of the indigenous peoples, but in a rather half-hearted and somewhat clueless way. These sections did not work as well for me and didn’t feel well connected to what I felt were the main storylines in Bath.
Tremain wrote some beautiful passages and I loved seeing how themes such as passions (and not just sexual ones) vs conventionality, colonialism, and finding sanctuary played out in different characters and different locations. Bits of this story I really loved but as a whole it didn’t fully coalesce or entirely work for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Physical abuse
laura0497's review
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage
librariangeorgia's review
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Infidelity
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Gore
Minor: Cancer
rlaurene's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Islands of Mercy is set in the British Empire of the Victorian era, following a cast of characters in England and Borneo.
The concept behind the construction of this book is interesting. By writing in a faux-Victorian style, Tremain can almost retrospectively insert taboo topics (LGBTQ+ issues, miscarriage, relationships outside of marriage, the subjects of imperial rule) into Victorian discourse. But it doesn't quite come off.
Part of the issue, I think, is that Tremain never really nails the style. She seems to write long sentences with little regard of what they actually say. None of her descriptions could be compared to Dickens's opening of Bleak House, for instance. They sometimes get time and places muddled for the reader. And there are some passages that so very nearly come off musical, until you stumble on an odd word choice. One example:
'And it felt to the two lovers that their intimate world had taken on an oily, liquified form in which sorrow and desire gleamed and trembled with rainbow colours, like unction falling upon water.'
I understand what she's trying to say here, but 'unction' is a harsh-sounding word in this slick, intimate image. Surely 'blessing' would slot in well? At other points, it reads as though the thesaurus has been cracked open to choose a more complex word where it wasn't exactly necessary.
Tremain also misses something with her themes. The scenes in Borneo come too close to depicting the British Empire as a benign (if lethargic) rule, with the villains being disease and, briefly, Australian miners for some reason. There's also little sense of the problematic relationship between England and Ireland. Clorinda, the Irish character, faces no discrimination, and rural Ireland is depicted as the usual idyll. There may also be an appropriation of the Jewish figure of the golem, but I'm not familiar enough with the folklore and history behind the golem to say this for certain.
The characters are rather hit and miss. Edmund is quite delightful, and it is a shame there are not more chapters from his perspective. Jane reads too much like a modern woman and Juliette borders on annoying, and their relationship doesn't really have the stakes it should. Valentine, the doctor who proposes to Jane at the very beginning of the book, suffers such a character assassination, with no arc or preamble, it is disconcerting for the reader. The best characters are the novel's maternal figures: Emmeline, Jane's painter aunt (who is the right touch of modern for the Victorian era; Clorinda; Taminah, the mother of Leon.
Islands of Mercy is worth the read, particularly if you're looking for LGBTQ+ representation in historical fiction. But I don't think it quite makes all the shots it is aiming for.
The concept behind the construction of this book is interesting. By writing in a faux-Victorian style, Tremain can almost retrospectively insert taboo topics (LGBTQ+ issues, miscarriage, relationships outside of marriage, the subjects of imperial rule) into Victorian discourse. But it doesn't quite come off.
Part of the issue, I think, is that Tremain never really nails the style. She seems to write long sentences with little regard of what they actually say. None of her descriptions could be compared to Dickens's opening of Bleak House, for instance. They sometimes get time and places muddled for the reader. And there are some passages that so very nearly come off musical, until you stumble on an odd word choice. One example:
'And it felt to the two lovers that their intimate world had taken on an oily, liquified form in which sorrow and desire gleamed and trembled with rainbow colours, like unction falling upon water.'
I understand what she's trying to say here, but 'unction' is a harsh-sounding word in this slick, intimate image. Surely 'blessing' would slot in well? At other points, it reads as though the thesaurus has been cracked open to choose a more complex word where it wasn't exactly necessary.
Tremain also misses something with her themes. The scenes in Borneo come too close to depicting the British Empire as a benign (if lethargic) rule, with the villains being disease and, briefly, Australian miners for some reason. There's also little sense of the problematic relationship between England and Ireland. Clorinda, the Irish character, faces no discrimination, and rural Ireland is depicted as the usual idyll. There may also be an appropriation of the Jewish figure of the golem, but I'm not familiar enough with the folklore and history behind the golem to say this for certain.
The characters are rather hit and miss. Edmund is quite delightful, and it is a shame there are not more chapters from his perspective. Jane reads too much like a modern woman and Juliette borders on annoying, and their relationship doesn't really have the stakes it should. Valentine, the doctor who proposes to Jane at the very beginning of the book, suffers such a character assassination, with no arc or preamble, it is disconcerting for the reader. The best characters are the novel's maternal figures: Emmeline, Jane's painter aunt (who is the right touch of modern for the Victorian era; Clorinda; Taminah, the mother of Leon.
Islands of Mercy is worth the read, particularly if you're looking for LGBTQ+ representation in historical fiction. But I don't think it quite makes all the shots it is aiming for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Physical abuse and Sexual content
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