Katie McGrath narrating book made the entire experience so much better, and I'd gladly sign a petition for her to narrate more books. The young woman Jane, is known locally as 'Angel of the Baths', Jane, the daughter of the esteemed Doctor Adeane, for her therapeutic treatments and hands on healing that relieve the aches of the body, the pains of their souls and her voice of encouragement leading them to bathe in the waters of Bath. I put this book down at 8% after reading the first four chapters. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the writing style. The author has attempted to emulate the typical writing and narrative styles of the 19th century, when the book is set, which has resulted in a rather dry and, to put it bluntly, boring book (as far as I read). Nothing about the first few chapters gripped me and the way certain themes were handled and discussed (such as miscarriages) made me uncomfortable. 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.

Where to start? The negative stereotypes surrounding bisexual women? The glorifying of a colonizer? The domestic abuse? Jane is a nurse in Bath, working with her doctor father, and frequently requested by patients as having some kind of special healing touch; she's unusually tall so stands out from the crowd as she accompanies her patients to the baths. 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...

Retailers:

Sir Raff,' said Leon? 'There is no "where" in Sarawak. There is only Nature. Men begin; Nature finishes.' I dont know if I d grab this book to read of my own volition, coz this is not always the genre I prefer, to be honest, but finding out it was narrated by wonderful Katie McGrath, spurred me on to get the audio version of the book. Just started it, but I ll properly comment on it when I finish it... Rose Tremain gives Hilary Mantel a run for her money for the title of Britain's greatest living historical novelist... there are still few writers who can conjure up a version of the past that is so startlingly unfamiliar yet so convincing Charlotte Heathcote, Sunday Express In the city of Bath, in the year 1865 Jane Adeane, renowned for her restorative skills, is convinced that some other destiny will one day show itself to her.

Rose’s new novel, Islands of Mercy, set in Bath and on the island of Borneo in the 1860s, will be published by Chatto on 10th September 2020.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 year is 1865.

What a rich cast of characters and broad variety of locations is here brought to life by strong characterisation and vivid description. All of the senses are engaged, sound being strong, smell being overwhelming from sweet perfume to the stench of disease. Islands of Mercy is a novel that ignites the senses and is a bold exploration of the human urge to seek places of sanctuary in a pitiless world.Der Roman besteht aus vier Teilen, die wiederum aus mehreren kurzen Kapiteln zusammengesetzt sind. Erzählt wird in chronologischer Reihenfolge aus einer Art auktorialer Perspektive. Dabei gibt es verschiedene Erzählstränge, in denen der Leser an wechselnden Schauplätzen die Ereignisse um Jane, Valentine, Edmund und Clorinda verfolgt. While the part of the story situated in Bath reads like a classic Rose Tremain, with well developed characters and captivating stories, the Borneo plot seems to populated by flat-ish, lost individuals in desperate search for an elusive meaning of their existence. Maybe it is the absurdity and pointlessness of it all, that brings to mind Paul Theroux’ The Mosquito coast, which I by the way intensely disliked, that is to blame for my negative attitude to the Borneo plot? Or maybe it is just that it makes me feel just as lost as the characters which is rather unTremainesque? Sir Ralph is intent on improving what the Creator has given him telling his lover that he wished to go down in history as one who had 'enabled happiness'. Leon advises him to begin by building a road. She was 'The Angel of the Baths', the one woman whose touch everybody yearned for. Yet she would do more. She was certain of that.