Suzanne Leal

And he has this lover who is young and who is clever and who is extremely beautiful.

but who is no less manipulative in his own way.

And I'm wondering whether I so disliked those characters that made me dislike the whole subplot, and whether that in fact was Rose Tremaine's whole point, that this whole situation, this whole colonial situation is distasteful.

But as you say, Kate, this is part of the reality of England and the British Empire at that time.

I also think too that what she does is she makes a contrast between two types of exploitation.

So there's the exploitation of women and then across the world there's the exploitation of

So this is how I did it.

I listened to the Gustav Sonata first of all on audiobook and was completely mesmerized and completely taken by it.

And I thought, this woman is the writer for me.

And then I got Islands of Mercy and I read that in March, April.

I probably read it reasonably quickly.

There was a lot happening, and you know what it was like during the lockdown period, which is prior to it even.

And I found it difficult.

I found it a bit dense.

I found it hard to get into.

And then when I picked the book up again, I knew where it was going.

I knew what the book was about.

And I think I could then take some time to enjoy the stitching of the work and to enjoy the writing.

She's a very good writer, I think.

She's very lyrical.