The Island House in Aussie Readers

Nov 18, 2012 Bree T rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, arc, australian, contemporary, historical-fiction, aww2012, vikings

Sydney PhD student Freya Dane receives word that her long-ago departed father has died in an accident off the coast of an island in Scotland. She inherits the island and its contents and finds herself longing to understand the man that she was long estranged with. She travels to Findnar, determined to learn more about him and his work and the reason he left her and her mother so long ago.

It appears that the island has an extensive Christian and Viking past that dates back to around 800AD and Fre Sydney PhD student Freya Dane receives word that her long-ago departed father has died in an accident off the coast of an island in Scotland. She inherits the island and its contents and finds herself longing to understand the man that she was long estranged with. She travels to Findnar, determined to learn more about him and his work and the reason he left her and her mother so long ago.

It appears that the island has an extensive Christian and Viking past that dates back to around 800AD and Freya finds herself continuing her fathers work. She begins to experience things that she cannot explain – she sees a young, dark haired woman, she experiences visions when she is around a local man by the name of Daniel Boyne. The house and island hold treasures of unimaginable importance and historical value, Freya just must follow the clues she is being given to find them.

In 800AD, Pictish girl Signy loses her entire family to a Viking raid. Left on the island with only some brothers and nuns for company, she helps care for the horribly injured Viking boy left behind. Known as Bear, the two become inseparable but a tragic event leads to Signy taking orders and becoming a nun. Deeply confused and believing that she must atone for her sins, Signy still cannot ignore the way in which she feels about Bear and the depth of Bear’s love for her sees him stopping at nothing in order to get her back by his side. Torn between the Pagan rituals of her ancestors and the strict Christianity of her new order, Signy is the voice that guides Freys to make her startling discoveries.

The Island House is the latest novel from Australian author Posie Graeme-Evans, whose previous works include The Dressmaker, The Innocent, The Exiled and The Uncrowned Queen. She is also known for creating the long-running TV series “McLeod’s Daughters” which has been partially responsible for the resurgence in the popularity of the rural romance ideal. I haven’t read any of her novels before but I was a bit of a McLeod’s Daughters fan (my former housemate got me into it, Wednesdays were our take away, McLeod’s and a few drinks nights!) so I thought I would give this one a go and see how I found it.

The narrative is split in two: firstly we meet Freya, mourning the father she didn’t really know, having made the journey from Sydney to a remote island off the coast of Scotland. The island was bought by her father and bequeathed to her in his will and Freya thinks that she may be able to get to know the man a little better, even posthumously, and perhaps even complete the thesis she’s struggling with herself. The island is accessible only by small boat and is not hooked up to power and running water – instead there are lanterns and she has to pump water in. I have to admit, I do get distracted by things like this, there was no mention of a toilet or how on earth one went about that. Love the idea of a stone cottage on a remote and windy Scottish island – do not like the idea of tripping outside at nighttime to a hole in the ground.

The other story revolves around Signy, a young girl hovering around adolescence who has her whole family brutally cut down during a Viking raid. Left to a handful of Christian people who are attempting to establish the island as a place of religion and learning, she finds a tentative love with Bear that is overshadowed by the guilt of her religious instruction, especially when something tragic occurs. Believing it to be a punishment from a God she previously didn’t believe in, she takes holy orders in order to become a nun. Signy was a pagan and the brutality of the Viking raids couldn’t strip her of her courage and her faith. The two sides war within her still.

This novel had so much potential! I love a blend of historical and contemporary and Scotland is one of my favourite places to read about and the past era was fascinating – a time in history that I have barely touched on in my reading. However there were things about this novel that stopped it from being truly great and I think that most of it revolved around the modern-day storyline. Freya was as much a mystery to me at the end of the book as she was at the beginning. I never really learned much about her, other than the fact that she’d missed her father’s presence in her life and that she was organised and often distant with people. She embarks on a strange almost non-existent love triangle with two local men and it’s obvious which one she is going to really end up with but it was so underdeveloped that it was impossible to feel anything about it. I liked the bare bones character of Daniel Boyle but he needed more and the two of them needed more interaction. It started off promisingly, with the visions they both experienced when they touched, Daniel avoiding her because of his guilt over her father’s death, etc but it petered out quickly and from then they settled into like being an old married couple. I feel as though the romance/chemistry aspect was just entirely skipped.

Fortunately the part of the novel set in 800AD was much better in terms of constructing a world with fleshed out characters. I enjoyed the story of Signy and Bear and felt for them with all the trauma and heartache they experienced in their young and tumultuous lives. The religion made me frustrated, because it was all the sin and hell and damnation preaching, a vengeful God who permitted nothing but worship. Everything else was the Devil and required exorcism. It was very interesting to learn about Signy’s Pagan rituals, especially concerning death. She was such a strong character, so resilient after everything that happened to her, stoic until the end.

The Island House has its good points but for me, it also lets itself down in a few areas, most notably character development. The plot is good, all the players are there, I just feel as though more time should’ve been devoted to making Freya a real person, giving the reader a much better, clearer picture of her. And developing intimacy with Daniel Boyne would’ve been appreciated too! I’m a girl who likes time spent on the romance, even when it’s a small part of the story. If you’re not bothered about that and you’re more interested in the historical aspect and the mystery, then this book will probably be right up your alley. ...more

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