Islands of Mercy: From the bestselling author of The Gustav Sonata

Really captivating characters and storyline. Enjoyed book very much; however wanted to order audiobook but Amazon did not have format. Very disappointed. Pls get the Islands of Mercy in audiobook. Several of my friends wanted this on audio also. I think they are looking elsewhere for it. Disappointed as Amazon usually has everything. Pls respond to my review & let us know when you can get copies of this audiobook. Thx for your help and time reviewing this response. Diane

I am sorry to say that I really do not like this novel. I just didn't connect to the characters and the story line. Sorry...

Another grand offering by Ms Tremain!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.The year is 1865, and Clorinda Morrissey leaves Dublin to seek fortune in Bath. Jane Adearne, a nurse called the Angel of Bath, helps the infirm to regain their health. Valentine Ross, a surgeon working together with Sir William Adearne, Jane's father, decides to 'pop a question' to Jane. Valentine's brother, Edmund, travels to Borneo to expand his knowledge on botany. These are the moments when the real quest begins for the characters.I found the descriptions of all paces vivid and, together with insight into social and moral aspects, Ms Tremain managed to provide an authentic feel of the places and times.I suppose while reading, Clorinda Morressey won my heart. She is poor, yet she wants to be an independent woman, not willing to be a servant, and with money she receives from selling family heirloom, she establishes herself in the centre of Bath. The path she chooses is not the easiest for a woman in Victorian England, and yet she succeeds, not only in her business.Beautiful narration and the need to find out how they will develop made this story unputdownable for me.*Many thanks to Rose Tremain, Random House UK, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*

Past experience has led me to consider Rose Tremain a mediocre author at best, and _Islands of Mercy_ was no exception. The characters were hardly relatable, the language remained flat and dry throughout, and the subplot with the younger brother felt like it had been inserted solely as padding. The only reason to buy the book, or enjoy it, is Katie McGrath's lovely velvety voice and honest performance, which are the real treat here. Wish they'd get her to read some of the classics, she has the vocal presence for it.

I don't usually like books like Jane Eyre and Pride & Prejudice, but Rose Tremain's Islands of Mercy is engaging and captures you from the start. Katie McGrath's beautiful voice describing Dublin, Ireland, Bath, and Borneo makes me feel as if I'm right there in the environment with the characters. Jane, Mrs. Morrissey, Emmeline, and Julietta are wonderful characters. So are Sir William and Ashton Sims. I love how the women never give up their independence and still find enjoyment in life no matter how much some men try to control them or what life throws at them.

Written beautifully and the Katie Mcgrath reading of the audiobook is perfection.

I wonder why Rose Tremain wrote this book? Having enjoyed all the novels she has written in the past I was looking forward to reading Islands of Mercy. But what a disappointment it proved to be. I simply couldn't believe in this 6'2inch woman and her lesbian lover. And did Rose Tremain write it to shock us with the explicit love scenes? And the story in Borneo was very thin and didn't, to my mind, link in at all with the characters in Bath. The two protaganiststhere were homosexuals, was that the point of them? My verdict: I just didn't feel that my £16 had been well spent.

Poorly thought out and large parts completely irrelevant to the story. The sections on Borneo are dreadful, no real development of the characters or conditions. Included just to bring in male homosexuality? It certainly seemed the only reason for that part of the story.Too many central characters under explored and unexplained, most seem to be created just for convenience and to pad things out.

I don’t even remember ordering it, to be honest; I note it was a 2020 production by the highly regarded Rose Tremain. I knew I’d read and enjoyed the Gustav Sonata, but could remember absolutely nothing whatsoever about it, which worried me a bit. Even when I located it and looked at the synopsis – nope, nothing. That won’t be the case with this book, however. It was certainly an easy and elegant read, but as many have noted, rather disjointed and unsatisfactory in many respects.I quickly thought, uncharitably, that she was pandering to the all-consuming LBGT movement. Two major characters are homosexual! Loving descriptions of Victorian Lesbian sex! The Rajah Brooke-alike character and his catamite, oh yawn.There’s quite an interesting cast of characters, the most attractive by an (Irish) country mile being Clorinda Morrissey. Her setting up of the tea room in Bath was fun, with a small but pleasant cast of sub-characters in this plot element. There’s a slightly bolted on element of her unlovable family and her rescue of a niece. You guess she’s going to end up well, with the knighted doctor as a late life love, and the wedding reception scene was enchanting.The six foot two inch “Angel of the Baths” was an ambivalent character, and the very bohemian life of her aunt another sub-plot that didn’t actually seem to go anywhere, other than enable Jane to lead an independent life. I struggled with the character change of Dr Valentine Ross – from being a good, kind doctor with only early clues that he had rather cruel, cold blue eyes, he morphed into full blown murderousness. His missing brother, of whom it transpires, he was always rather jealous (echoed in a similar story about Clorinda’s nieces and parental favouritism) was definitely a story that sort of drifted. You knew he’d go out there and find him dead, although I admit his abrupt self-termination left me a bit surprised.There were lovely descriptions and the writing was never less than effortless and readable – I didn’t not enjoy reading it, I just didn’t find it very engaging. Jane survives, she lives a comfortable Lesbian life in London and it is intimated she takes up writing – I envisaged her as a sort of Radclyffe Hall in looks, and indeed there are several similarities in their lives. The minute I got to the bit about the White Rajah, I thought, “Ah, James Brooke” and the whole of that sub-story was closely based on Brooke’s life. It took me a little longer to think of Radclyffe Hall.So overall I come back to the question of what was the author trying to do here? The fact that a lot of people ask this, possibly means that whatever it was, it didn’t entirely succeed. Some characters are closely based on historical ones, the narrative skips from Bath to Borneo and occasionally to Ireland. There are random walk-on parts such as Belgian acrobats, unpleasant Malays, evil Australian gold miners and the weird insertion of Valentine’s kindly self-appointed servant. Somehow it just didn’t hang together for me. I’m hovering between 3 and 4 stars – it really is a 3 ½ to me, but as I enjoyed reading it until the very end, I’ll be generous and go for 4.

I dont know how to review this book without bringing out a long string of adjectives, but i am happy to settle for one: superb. Like all of Tremain’s books, it exceeds expectations; I have come to expect that. This reading experience is without doubt the reason I buy books.

It's hard to believe that the author of "The Colour" and "The way I found her" is the same as the author of this work. I was also disappointed with "The Gustav Sonata" and some of her later novels set in France so I feel as if she has lost some of her touch.With this one there is the makings of a good story with Clorinda Morrissey who comes from Ireland to Bath and sets up a tea shop. At times Tremain lurches towards the leprechaun in her portrayal of the green fields of Ireland etc but this character remains charming.Like other reviewers I found the sections set in Borneo less convincing and interesting.The character of Valentine Ross was a real mistake. How did he degenerate so fast? This just didn't ring true.The ending is very abrupt and we are left without resolution which is unpleasant wen you have invested a bit in a novel.