Islands of Mercy

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I started this book as it was narrated by the one and only Katie McGrath, and it didn’t disappoint. Not to mention the power the book exude in the richness of truly courageous and powerful female characters who defy the patriaarchy, society expectations and opressions! You cannot but love and respect each and one of them in their own rights! So the book is finished, I mean the audiobook version and I can now just go around yapping how talented Miss McGrath is cause she truly is! Listening to her I really had an experience many people narrated the book... Wow she is so versatile and... I am wowed! Personally, I found the novel disjointed, unable to properly connect the disparate elements in it. An ambitious conceit, but from my point of view not one that was entirely successful. Set in late 1800's Ireland, Bath, London and Borneo, this is the story of a community of people whose lives intersect in the town of Bath, a dual narrative of events concerning those who live there and the efforts of two men in Borneo with ambitions slightly at cross purposes.

I loved everything by Rose Tremain that I read so far, but this one leaves me with some mixed feelings. I listened to the audiobook because of a childhood crush on Katie McGrath. While her performance is amazing, it is not enough to compensate for the actual garbage fire that is the book itself.Inadequately thought out and also big components entirely unnecessary to the story. The sections on Borneo are dreadful, no genuine development of the personalities or problems. Included just to bring in male homosexuality? It definitely appeared the only reason for that part of the story. For the content of the book, plot, characters, I have to say I have enjoyed the build up of the book, the progress and I like how the author decided to finish the book and where she led her characters to in the end... Somehow I feel that at least justice had been served... it had very little character development, events just happen one after the next, notably jane meets julietta once and suddenly they're in love and having an affair. also the parts set in malaysia were a mess and didn't add anything to the story. not that there was much of a story tbf. and to top it off, we of course had to have a lesbian beaten to almost death by the man she's supposed to marry Islands of Mercy is a novel that ignites the senses and is a bold exploration of the human urge to seek places of sanctuary in a pitiless world. Meanwhile, on the wild island of Borneo, an eccentric British 'rajah', Sir Ralph Savage, overflowing with philanthropy but compromised by his passions, sees his schemes relentlessly undermined by his own fragility, by man's innate greed and by the invasive power of the forest itself.

In the city of Bath, in the year 1865, an extraordinary young woman, renowned for her nursing skills, is convinced that some other destiny will one day show itself to her. But when she finds herself torn between a dangerous affair with a female lover and the promise of a conventional marriage to an apparently respectable doctor, her desires begin to lead her towards a future she had never imagined. A novel which has several protagonists, all so different and peculiar and interconnected, and who are special in their own ways, and who seek something or run away from something. Auffällig ist der detaillierte, antiquiert und etwas prätentiös anmutende Schreibstil mit seinen verschachtelten Sätzen, viel indirekter Rede und ausschweifenden Beschreibungen. Er macht das Lesen zum Teil ein wenig anstrengend und sorgt dafür, dass sich die Geschichte nur langsam entrollt. Islands of Mercy is a novel that ignites the senses, and is a bold exploration of the human urge to seek places of sanctuary in a pitiless world.Beautiful narrative and also the requirement to find out how they will create made this story unputdownable for me. She was ‘The Angel of the Baths’, the one woman whose touch everybody yearned for. Yet she would do more. She was certain of that.

The novel follows Jane Adeane, a young woman working as a nurse in Bath in the mid 19th century. Jane is only too aware that she is unusual and different (not only is she extraordinarily tall, but she is also attracted to women), and she is torn between a female lover and the pressure to conform to convention and marry a respectable doctor. But Jane believes she is destined for other things. A novel which has a number of lead characters, all so various and strange and interconnected, and also who are unique in their own methods, as well as who seek something or run away from something. That being said, this book in itself was magnificent. I loved everything about it, from the characters to their different plots and the writing, chefs' kiss. This was my first Tremain book and i am so glad i came across her. I can't really describe it but her writing made me feel some type of way and i want to feel that way again.The Victorian world - from the well-to-do streets of Bath to London's Bohemian salons, to the jungle of Borneo - is conjured so remarkably, and its characters are so powerfully constructed, from fierce and fearless Jane to the gentlemanly doctor whose anger writhes beneath the surface. This makes for a striking comparison: most of the women’s stories in Islands of Mercy are triumphant, and beautifully told; by contrast, the medical men are helpless without them, and the preening English rajah is in fact a diminished nobody, more Basil Fawlty than degenerate Kurtz. However, in the light of this amplification of women’s voices, it is difficult to know what to make of the relative silence of Savage’s subjects. In one scene he observes a group of Chinese workers, who with their “small, slim bodies and their wide conical straw hats, [appear to him] … to resemble little mushrooms, bobbing out, scrabbling for a place in the earth”. It’s a reductive image, reflecting the homogenising perspective of a coloniser. But nowadays a historical novel in which “lost tribes” remain lost runs the risk of appearing out of step. Tremain – who, after all, is one of the best novelists writing today – does not quite make this mistake. She has Savage’s servant, Leon, whom he has taken as his “primary bed companion”, articulate the frustration of having to kowtow to a buffoon: when Sir Ralph shows him the completed Savage Road, he exclaims: “White and strong, Rajah, Sir – just like you and the British empire!” Leon is also as blunt and clear-sighted as any of the female characters, pointing out, for example, that the Englishmen are thieves: “You come. Take our gold. Sail away.” An exhilarating exploration of love, life, loss and death... A thrilling and seductive story... Vivid and beguiling Rowan Mantell, Eastern Daily Press This has been a strange but compelling read. The short chapters dealing with one of five or six characters are almost like short stories but of course link up to a larger narrative arc that connects everyone together. This is not like reading a novel but it's not like reading short stories either because it is a novel. I can imagine quite a few readers hating this but it is very engaging and thought-provoking.