A review by althea
Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain

2.0

Historical fiction is my joint third most read genre this year, and I’ve been particularly enjoying reading sapphic historical fiction, so when I saw this on Netgalley I was so excited to read it! Sadly, however, I just didn’t click with it and eventually DNFed it. The writing style is so reminiscent of a 19th century novel and often felt like I was being read to. The book is told in third person perspectives by some omnipresent narrator that switched between characters and places halfway through a chapter with no warning, and as such I just couldn’t connect to the story at all. Theresa also mentions in her review that the topic of miscarriage is handled very poorly and extremely insensitively and I completely agree. This really just wasn’t for me but if you are a real fan of historical fiction, maybe give it a shot!