Islands of Mercy

Product Information

The characters are bold, colourful and exciting; the scenery vivid and intricately described; and the narrative proceeds passionately throughout.

She is like a mother to Jane and it is during this visit that Jane discovers more of the essence of who she is, an aspect captured by her Aunt in a portrait she sits for. Katie McGrath narrating book made the entire experience so much better, and I'd gladly sign a petition for her to narrate more books.Savage acts as a local “rajah” in Borneo, a self-described “lover of young men who believes that he alone is the guarantor of his subjects’ happiness yet has achieved nothing toward that end other than overseeing construction of a road that goes no further than his own property”. All the sex scenes are between characters of the same sex except, occasionally, reference is made to heterosexual pairings. life, so often so cruel in the way it thrust the human soul into prisons from which there seemed to be no escape, could sometimes place it athwart an open door.

The characters here are vividly drawn and engender strong likes and dislikes - the main protagonist, Jane, is an unusual woman in Victorian England, being both exceptionally tall and attracted to women. The disruption to and neglect of Dr Adeane’s household leads to Clorinda agreeing, a little reluctantly, to provide some meals for the distracted Dr Adeane. This flimsiness of character is perhaps intended to underscore how his relationship with the rajah can only dehumanise them both, the opposite of the tender rapprochement between Julietta and Jane. Unfortunately, I have mixed feelings here with the story itself, whether it worked, whether or not Tremain achieved her intended goal.From the jungles of Borneo to London’s relaxed soirées, from arak and rice served in a mud hut to Victoria sponge in the tea rooms of Bath, from a slum in Dublin to a rajah’s palace, the author explores many types of love, the importance of generosity of spirit and the need for mercy in a world full of greed and ignorance.

Unter anderem sind die Schilderungen der sexuellen Eskapaden für mein Empfinden zu sehr ausgeufert und die Darstellungen dabei oft eher abstoßend geraten. Her father's assistant, Dr Valentine Ross is taken by her charms and sets out to propose to her - little does he know of her passionate love affair with the exotic Julietta.Restoration, the first of her novels to feature Robert Merivel, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Julietta is notoriously dedicated to the pleasure of sex, and also her tongue, “la langue de Juliette”, is celebrated as “the best bringer of satisfaction a female might ever before recognize”; her understanding husband shares her with the “appeals” that come and go.