Islands of Mercy

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Tremain never ever quite places it like this, but in Ross she dramatizes the pathology determined in Virginia Woolf’s book-length essay Three Guineas: that of the man who expects as well as requires to see himself multiplied in females’s eyes. The Victorian tip of the hat is mostly directed, I think, to George Eliot; of recent work, I was reminded of The Doll Factory and The Essex Serpent. It highlights some of the issues of that era, but does so with a cast of characters that are not stereotypical, which makes it all the more interesting to read, because it defies expectation and presents an alternate scenario by focusing on those who defy convention, transgressing this straight-laced, Victorian society daring to live in ways outside mainstream society and getting away with it. 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.

At one point there is even a conversation between Jane and her friends in London, where they discuss literature, a french author's novel is set in a morgue and asks a lot of the reader, not least a strong stomach, they note there is nothing like it in England. 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. The settings are surprising and vivid, and if Tremain doesn’t quite bring them and their story lines together seamlessly, she is still to be applauded for her ambition. This ambitious novel takes us from Dublin to Bath with Clorinda Morrissey, from Bath to London and Paris with ‘the Angel of Bath’ Jane Adearne and to Borneo with Sir Ralph Savage and Edmund Ross, brother of Valentine Ross, the would be husband of Jane.The pace of the novel is managed excellently, as one would expect in a novelist of the calibre of Rose Tremain. The novel begins with an undesirable marital relationship proposition the consequences of which unfold in settings that take us from Bath to London, Paris, Dublin as well as Borneo. Relationships, both loving and troubled within families and between couples are exposed and explored. Rose Tremain gives Hilary Mantel a run for her money for the title of Britain's greatest living historical novelist. After rejecting Ross’s proposal, Jane decamps to London, seeking refuge with her aunt Emmeline, a successful painter who introduces her to bohemian London society.

Compromised by his transgressive passions, and the invasive power of the rainforest which continually thwarts his schemes, Savage must fight to survive. Over a distinguished literary career, Rose Tremain has traversed genres with her customary flair, though many readers will associate her primarily with the historical fiction of her most acclaimed novels. To be entirely honest, I have other books I would rather read and forcing myself to continue with a book I wasn't enjoying would be unproductive. While her performance is amazing, it is not enough to compensate for the actual garbage fire that is the book itself. Her knowledge of the times is woven into her storytelling so naturally that the reader is immediately immersed in the worlds of nineteenth century Bath, London, Paris, Sarawak and Dublin.Even a tall, strong lady like Jane is at the grace of males whose minds have actually been damaged by false concepts, such as the required submission of females.