A review by mazza57
Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain

3.0

This is a very well written book that i just failed to fall in love with and I am not altogether sure why. The author creates settings that are so wildly different and manages to bring them all into full technicolour but she populates each of these settings with deeply flawed characters. Here we have a doctor so upset by a refusal to his proposal of marriage who, when it does come to pass becomes a positive tartar, typical he-man behaviour that just doesn't fit with his initial drawing. His intended has her own secrets and lies but goes against all her will to fit herself into an intended mould - not something I thought she needed to do even in the era it is set. It is positively brimming with LGBT characterisation but all of them almost completely unlikeable. Despite all this there is something about the narrative which keeps you reading and at least one completely realistic characterisation in that of Clarinda - not perfect and knowing it. I found the ending of some characters lines completely unsatisfying.

I though I had read more by this author but apparently not yet I am tempted to read more by her even though this was not as satisfying as it could be

I do wish we could rate with halves as this would be a 3.5 for me