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Trade Wind
The year is 1859 and Hero Hollis, beautiful and headstrong niece of the American consul, arrives in Zanzibar. It is an earthly paradise; it is also the last outpost of the Slave Trade. A passionate opponent of slavery, Hero is swept into a turmoil of royal intrigue, abduction, piracy, smuggling, and a virulent cholera epidemic. There in Zanzibar, the most cruelly beautiful island of the Southern Seas, she must choose her love and unravel her destiny.
631 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
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About the author
M.M. Kaye
42books567followersM. M. Kaye (Mary Margaret) was born in India and spent her early childhood and much of her early-married life there. Her family ties with the country are strong: her grandfather, father, brother and husband all served the British Raj. After India's independence, her husband, Major-General Goff Hamilton of Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides (the famous Indian Army regiment featured in The Far Pavilions), joined the British Army and for the next nineteen years M. M. Kaye followed the drum to Kenya, Zanzibar, Egypt, Cyprus and Germany.
M. M. Kaye won worldwide fame for The Far Pavilions, which became a worldwide best-seller on publication in 1978. This was followed by Shadow of the Moon and Trade Wind. She also wrote and illustrated The Ordinary Princess, a children's book and authored a dozen detective novels, including Death in Kashmir and Death in Zanzibar. Her autobiography has been published in three volumes, collectively entitled Share of Summer: The Sun in the Morning, Golden Afternoon, and Enchanted Evening. In March 2003, M. M. Kaye was awarded the Colonel James Tod International Award by the Maharana Mewar Foundation of Udaipur, Rajasthan, for her "contribution of permanent value reflecting the spirit and values of Mewar".
M. M. Kaye won worldwide fame for The Far Pavilions, which became a worldwide best-seller on publication in 1978. This was followed by Shadow of the Moon and Trade Wind. She also wrote and illustrated The Ordinary Princess, a children's book and authored a dozen detective novels, including Death in Kashmir and Death in Zanzibar. Her autobiography has been published in three volumes, collectively entitled Share of Summer: The Sun in the Morning, Golden Afternoon, and Enchanted Evening. In March 2003, M. M. Kaye was awarded the Colonel James Tod International Award by the Maharana Mewar Foundation of Udaipur, Rajasthan, for her "contribution of permanent value reflecting the spirit and values of Mewar".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 190 reviews
April 30, 2019
The island of Zanzibar, off the eastern coast of Africa. The late 1850s.
Hero Hollis, an orphaned young American woman with a large fortune, an overabundance of self-confidence and a determination to rid the world of all its evils, sails to Zanzibar to join her relatives for an extended stay. This is the heyday of the slave trade in Africa, and Zanzibar is at the center of the slave trade. Hero is washed overboard in a storm and, luckily, is picked up by Captain Rory Frost, whose ship smuggles guns and other contraband . . . which has included slaves. And so begins the love-hate relationship between the self-righteous crusader Hero and the independent British captain, who breaks all rules except his own.
Hero was a hard character to identify with. She's so completely certain that she's right that she barges ahead and often ends up doing far more damage than good. Part of this book is her journey toward self-awareness, but it takes a good long while for her to get there.
Unless you love the (seriously) bad boys and the anti-heroes, Rory is even more difficult to accept than Hero. He's done some coldhearted things in his life. Things come to a head eventually with a scene that's a deal-breaker for many readers (serious spoilers here):
The more I thought about this, and tried to figure out if there was any way to accept , the more muddled I felt.
In a weird way I wanted to be able to accept it, or at least believe that people could accept it--I like to believe in HEAs and all--but I invariably kept circling back to the idea that ultimately, there are some things that are just not to be tolerated. Some behavior goes too far. Your mileage may vary.
Aside from this extremely problematic part of the plot, there is a lot to appreciate in Trade Wind. M.M. Kaye is great at exploring the history of other cultures, giving respect to different ways of life and viewpoints, and evoking the feel for what it would have been really like to live through some turbulent times in history. She gives a more nuanced view of the problems with eradicating slavery than I previously was aware of . . . maybe a little too nuanced, as she almost justified it in some circumstances. Maybe she was just trying to get the reader inside of the heads of those who were part of this culture.
This is a well-researched, complex and fascinating novel, but it’s really problematic, and I had too many issues with it to really love it. A soft 3 stars.
Hero Hollis, an orphaned young American woman with a large fortune, an overabundance of self-confidence and a determination to rid the world of all its evils, sails to Zanzibar to join her relatives for an extended stay. This is the heyday of the slave trade in Africa, and Zanzibar is at the center of the slave trade. Hero is washed overboard in a storm and, luckily, is picked up by Captain Rory Frost, whose ship smuggles guns and other contraband . . . which has included slaves. And so begins the love-hate relationship between the self-righteous crusader Hero and the independent British captain, who breaks all rules except his own.
Hero was a hard character to identify with. She's so completely certain that she's right that she barges ahead and often ends up doing far more damage than good. Part of this book is her journey toward self-awareness, but it takes a good long while for her to get there.
Unless you love the (seriously) bad boys and the anti-heroes, Rory is even more difficult to accept than Hero. He's done some coldhearted things in his life. Things come to a head eventually with a scene that's a deal-breaker for many readers (serious spoilers here):
The more I thought about this, and tried to figure out if there was any way to accept , the more muddled I felt.
In a weird way I wanted to be able to accept it, or at least believe that people could accept it--I like to believe in HEAs and all--but I invariably kept circling back to the idea that ultimately, there are some things that are just not to be tolerated. Some behavior goes too far. Your mileage may vary.
Aside from this extremely problematic part of the plot, there is a lot to appreciate in Trade Wind. M.M. Kaye is great at exploring the history of other cultures, giving respect to different ways of life and viewpoints, and evoking the feel for what it would have been really like to live through some turbulent times in history. She gives a more nuanced view of the problems with eradicating slavery than I previously was aware of . . . maybe a little too nuanced, as she almost justified it in some circumstances. Maybe she was just trying to get the reader inside of the heads of those who were part of this culture.
This is a well-researched, complex and fascinating novel, but it’s really problematic, and I had too many issues with it to really love it. A soft 3 stars.
March 3, 2017
Trade Wind is, bar none, my favorite book...period.
I first read it when I was 16 years old, and now I'm 53. Even after 15+ readings (I've lost count), I still love it. I always hesitate to recommend it to friends, because it's almost like my baby--I don't want people to think it's ugly.
It combines beautiful writing with in-depth factual information about the history and island of Zanzibar of the mid-1800's. The plot is well maintained throughout the book. Kaye's writing is both lyrical and strong; painting word pictures, expressing the emotions of the characters and triggering an emotional response in the reader. The romance is secondary to the story, but wow, what a romance Kaye delivers. Kaye truely fleshed out the main characters of Hero and Rory extremely well; exposing them with all their strengths and weaknesses. You won't find a Mary Sue/Gary Stu in the pages of this novel. Even secondary characters (i.e. Batty Potter, Dan Larrimore, Salme, Amrah and Sultan Majid) are well drawn and sympathetic.
Without attempting to give away any major spoilers, I will tell potential readers that a part of this book is very controversial. It appears to be the "tipping point" why some readers rate Trade Wind with 1-2 stars. For myself, I think the action is justified within the context of the plotline and the motivation of the lead male character, and personally didn't have a problem with it as it pertains to this story. However, I totally understand that others could find it so.
I only regret I cannot give this 10 stars instead of a paltry 5.
I first read it when I was 16 years old, and now I'm 53. Even after 15+ readings (I've lost count), I still love it. I always hesitate to recommend it to friends, because it's almost like my baby--I don't want people to think it's ugly.
It combines beautiful writing with in-depth factual information about the history and island of Zanzibar of the mid-1800's. The plot is well maintained throughout the book. Kaye's writing is both lyrical and strong; painting word pictures, expressing the emotions of the characters and triggering an emotional response in the reader. The romance is secondary to the story, but wow, what a romance Kaye delivers. Kaye truely fleshed out the main characters of Hero and Rory extremely well; exposing them with all their strengths and weaknesses. You won't find a Mary Sue/Gary Stu in the pages of this novel. Even secondary characters (i.e. Batty Potter, Dan Larrimore, Salme, Amrah and Sultan Majid) are well drawn and sympathetic.
Without attempting to give away any major spoilers, I will tell potential readers that a part of this book is very controversial. It appears to be the "tipping point" why some readers rate Trade Wind with 1-2 stars. For myself, I think the action is justified within the context of the plotline and the motivation of the lead male character, and personally didn't have a problem with it as it pertains to this story. However, I totally understand that others could find it so.
I only regret I cannot give this 10 stars instead of a paltry 5.
May 5, 2016
A journey of ten thousand leagues has to start somewhere, and in this historical epic it starts in the kitchen of a grand mansion from Boston, in or around the middle of the nineteen century, prior to the american Civil War. A small girl with a ridiculously ponderous name, Hero Athena Hollis, has her palm read by an old Irish crone named Biddy jason:
She spoke in a hoarse, low sing-song, barely above a whisper: "There's sun in your hand, and wind and salt water. And rain ... warm rain and an island full of black men ..."
I have mentioned the Secessionist War because M M Kaye has written here her own version of Margaret Mitchell's sprawling saga, a sort of "Gone With the Trade Winds", describing passionate lives caught in a conflict over slavery, with a hefty dose of romance thrown in. The garish cover is actually a pretty good capture of the 'bodice-ripping' part of the novel, but it fails to evoque the real strength of the narrative that comes from the author's own passion for the study of the history and people of the island of Zanzibar. I have first read "Trade Wind" almost thirty years ago, and in the meantime I have become quite the fanboy of M M Kaye for her two famous Indian epics ("The Far Pavilions" and "Shadow of the Moon") and for her sense of humour displayed in a lighter series of whodunits. The re-read revealed some nasty undercurrents of imperialism and condescension towards the 'darkies', but the overall thrill of the exotic adventures is still strong in this one. How could it not, when hurricanes at sea are followed by journeys on pirate ships, sea battles against slave traders, harem visits and plots to overthrow the sultan of the land, bloody revolutions and hidden treasures worthy of the Arabian Tales, daring prison escapes and merciless plague, elopements and kidnappings and betrayals and over all the constantly blowing winds?
At the centre of all tis turmoil is an American young lady, an orphan heiress Boston riding on an unusually moral high horse, driven to do good for the world, whether the world wants it or not:
"Good? What sort of good?"
"Helping people. Setting things to rights!"
"Humph. What sort of things?"
Miss Hollis sketched a small impatient gesture: "Slavery. Ignorance. Dirt and disease. I don't believe in sitting around with folded hands and saying 'The Lord's Will be done,' when there are so many things being done that cannot possibly be the Lord's Will. One should start right in and do something about it."
Her missionary zeal, coupled with the well remembered prophecy from her childhood, puts Hero on a ship for Zanzibar, a den of slavery, disease and injustice that the young woman feels it is her mission in life to redress. The first obstacle in her course is one renegade British Captain of the slave ship "virago", a scoundrel named Errol Flynn ... pardon! named Emory ('Rory') Frost. He is everything Hero despises : an opportunist, amoral, debauched rogue ... you can see where this is leading to, dont you?
There must be something in the nature of a woman that drives her inexorably towards shawshbuckling bad boys, as M M Kaye is not the only author to pick the so-called 'Alpha' for her heroine, even as she portrays said heroine as an early and fiery poster girl of the budding feminist movement. I have a feeling this deeply entrenched emotional need goes beyond mere sexuality and addresses a universal human aspiration. Who really wants a boring, nine-to-five life when he or she can have danger and adventure and passion? Rory Frost himself heard the call of the faraway lands in his early childhood, reading a famous anonymous British poem:
With a host of furious fancies
Whereof I am commander,
With a burning spear and a horse of air
To the wilderness I wander.
By a knight of ghosts and shadows
I summoned am to tourney
Ten leagues beyond the wide world's end.
Methinks it is no journey.
The verses capture brilliantly the wildness of character and the restless spirit of Rory, but the reader will have to wait for the end of the novel to find out if the idealistic and naive Hero can awaken thoughts of hearth and marital bliss in the heart of the wanderer.
Speaking of idealistic crusaders, I think I read somewhere that the cruelest dictators and war criminals in history have been the ones who truly believed that they are the chosen ones to lead humanity into a better future. (Pasternak?) Hero Athena Hollis is a fitting case study of the practical problems resulting from inflexible moral principles. A longer part of her childhood prophecy warns Hero that she will cause a lot of bloodshed and pain before she can find her true heart, and her stay in Zanzibar will challenge sorely her earlier certainties about right and wrong. Hero, and with her most of the rest of the European community of the island, is guilty of judging harshly the local population and its traditions and customs, automatically assuming the Arabs and the Africans are backward, lazy and dirty and that they need a firm guiding hand as they are quite incapable of governing themselves. Something along the lines of : I must occupy your country in order to prevent you from wasting its resources and in order to prevent other dirty empires getting their hands on said resources.
Someday someone is going to see that you get the blessing of Progress, Western style, whether you want it or not. And if you don't want it you'll get it crammed down your throat with a rifle butt.
I have noticed this strong undercurrent of "white man's burden" in the pages of the two other major epics written by Kaye, a heritage of her Imperial British upbringing that informs everything she writes, even as she admits mistakes and abuses were made. The central assumption of superiority of the 'white' culture is never renounced. It is to be found in actions, both from Hero and from Rory, even as their words claim the opposite.
The English have always been great ones at grabbing everything they can lay hands on and then piously pretending that they only did it for the previous owner's good. A hypocritical lot. says Rory, who on the other hand despises the local Sultan and the local traders for indecision, for venality and for general squalor. Hero wants to liberate the slaves, but she is scandalized when she finds out one of her acquaintances has a dark-skinned mistress. The list is long, but in her defense, Mrs. Kaye does point out the inconsistencies and the fallacies of the Western atitudes. I was worried though about her apparent and repeated defense of the instituton of slavery. She condemns the bad practices, the death ships and the forceful marches across the continent, but not the principle of the thing.
Were the well-fed black slaves of the Zanzibar Arabs so much worse off than the wizened children of 'free' whites, who worked in factories and mines? And would Salme think that a grimy, fog-filled and smoke-blackened market in some industrial town was so much to be preferred above the hot, teeming, colourful bazaars of her native Island?
To me, this sounds like a bad argument. Both practices are equally reprehensible, and one bad deed does not excuse the other. On the one hand, the author feels ... a savage anger against all those Europeans who despised the East as uncivilized, and yet considered that when living there the colour of their own skins gave them the right to behave as they pleased, and automatically placed them in a superior - and governing - class. , on the other hand, she cannot stop looking at the island from the perspective of a superior being slumming it among the natives.
I should stop with my complaints though, because I don't want to give the wrong impression. I enjoyed the ride, and I was reminded of my own childhood fantasies of becoming a sailor and of journeying to faraway lands with names like Antananarivo or Pitcairn or Valparaiso, of becoming a hero for the local populations and of having a beautiful maiden swoon into my muscular arms. The best part of the present novel is the island of Zanzibar itself, and here the research done by the author is impressive and her portrait is equally enchanting and informative.
It was not surprising that a man born and bred among the harsh, sun baked sands of Arabia should have been caught by the beauty of this green and gracious island and left his heart, and at the last his body, on that lovelt shore. The young Frenchman, Jules Dubail, had been right when he described it as a 'Paradise on earth, colourful and exotic and of a beauty inconceivable.' and so had those long-ago Arabs who had named it 'Zayn za'l barr' - 'Fair is this land.'
Is this escapism? Partly, yes. The reader feels like he or she has passed through a magical portal into a fairytale, one of the good old-fashioned and scary ones where wolfes eat the little Red Riding Hood and a witch will cook the lost children in her oven.
It was the fact that the door stood ajar that decided her. Had it been closed she would probably (though by no means certainly) have turned back. But looking at it she could catch a glimpse of sun-dappled shade and the crimson fire of hibiscus beyond it, and suddenly she was no longer Hero Athena Hollis, but Eve or Pandorra or Bluebeard's wife. She stood quite still for several minutes, not in doubt, but to listen, and hearing no sound but the surf and sea wind, ran lightly up the steps.
Hero should have paid more attention to her fairytales and kept away from enchanting palaces by the coral sea with mystical names like 'Kivulimi'. Yes, the place might hold hidden treasures, but there might also be ogres protecting it. Her innocence and credulity is not the best armor against predators and an earlier fanciful reference from a cousin might turn into a nightmare:
... her ebullient cousin, Hartley Crayne, had nicknamed her 'The Sleeping Beauty': kindly explaining that he "reckoned she was sound asleep behind her hedge of prickles, and that any Prince who had the idea of waking her up was going to have to take a goddamned hatchet to hack his way through 'em!"
"Might try it myself," Hartley had added, "if I weren't so doggone idle. I'm all for the waking up with a kiss, but chopping down thorn trees ain't in my line."
My final quotes are both offered in atonement for some of the bitterness of the critical notes above, and as a reccomendation to visit Zanzibar in the company of Hero Athena Hollis with an open mind and with an expectation of wonder:
He has seen the squalor and the enchantment, and known that although the world was shrinking with the relentless swiftness of a sandbar when the tide has turned, it was still, for a little while longer, a vast and mysterious place full of unexplored territories, secret cities and beautiful, beckoning horizons.
>><<>><<>><<>><<
Fireflies in the shadows and the scent of strange flowers; the sound of surf on a coral beach.
'Teach me to hear mermaids singing'
October 2, 2020
“There’s sun in your hand, and wind and salt water. And rain…warm rain and an island full of black men…�
“Ye’ll sail halfway round the world to meet the work that is waiting for ye to do and the one who’ll help ye to do it…Ye’ll have a hand in helpin� a power o� folk to die and a sight more to live, an� ye’ll get hard words for the one and no thanks for the other. Ye’ll lay your hand on gold past counting, but no good will ye get of it. And all your life ye’ll do what you have to do. Ye’ll make your own bed…an� ye’ll lie on it…�
Once a little girl with a ridiculous name, Hero Athena Hollis had her own prophesy told. Hero grew up believing she would go to Zanzibar, a land very different from Boston where she would fulfil her ambition to society's injustice and cruelty done to the black slaves. She is said to be headstrong, nothing gay or puttering around or trying to snag a husband. But she dreams to change a city for the good benefit.
Captain Rory Frost pulls a bruised and drowned Hero from the sea when she was swept from the ship that was taking her to Zanzibar. Hero dislikes Rory for his broody rude behaviour, his humorous retorts which riles her up and most of all he is a slaver whom Hero vehemently despises.
Hero was naive. She tries to set Zanzibar to rights, tried to reason and put an end to slavery. She was determined and very sure she will be able to do this. She imagined herself a hero but instead she was used as a pawn and brought harm to herself. The self-righteous, egotistical girl was led by devious routes. Hero is quite aware of the things she was about to do. Hero is right in every way, her inside feminist, humanist and morals led her to act rightly to the end but she only brought pain for herself. Zanzibar is on the eastern side of the world where Arabs and Africans living have different customs. Rory, in most ways tried to explain/warn Hero, he openly laughs at her dreams.
I'm enjoying the change of scenerio, culture of the stories. Last bodice-ripper I read I explored with India, here we deal with the Arabs. I've lived among them for a few years so I can understand their dealings and the author caught every tiny details. I've read the reviews of this book and plenty of them have an issue of the hero raping the heroine and she instantly falling in love with him. Bodice-ripper theme has rape and injustic kind of aura so it's totally expectable. I was sad for darling Amara, I loved every little scenes of her. I didn't expect what happened to her, I wished the author spared her. The involvement of H and h was not until to the end of the book and has no sex scenes. While it's not very romantic it has a HEA for the couples.
"For she’s more t’me than any other thing what I possess,
And I never will he parted from me Bonnie Brown Bess�"
You'll know why I added this singing phrase, it touches my heart for whom it was sung. �
“Ye’ll sail halfway round the world to meet the work that is waiting for ye to do and the one who’ll help ye to do it…Ye’ll have a hand in helpin� a power o� folk to die and a sight more to live, an� ye’ll get hard words for the one and no thanks for the other. Ye’ll lay your hand on gold past counting, but no good will ye get of it. And all your life ye’ll do what you have to do. Ye’ll make your own bed…an� ye’ll lie on it…�
Once a little girl with a ridiculous name, Hero Athena Hollis had her own prophesy told. Hero grew up believing she would go to Zanzibar, a land very different from Boston where she would fulfil her ambition to society's injustice and cruelty done to the black slaves. She is said to be headstrong, nothing gay or puttering around or trying to snag a husband. But she dreams to change a city for the good benefit.
Captain Rory Frost pulls a bruised and drowned Hero from the sea when she was swept from the ship that was taking her to Zanzibar. Hero dislikes Rory for his broody rude behaviour, his humorous retorts which riles her up and most of all he is a slaver whom Hero vehemently despises.
Hero was naive. She tries to set Zanzibar to rights, tried to reason and put an end to slavery. She was determined and very sure she will be able to do this. She imagined herself a hero but instead she was used as a pawn and brought harm to herself. The self-righteous, egotistical girl was led by devious routes. Hero is quite aware of the things she was about to do. Hero is right in every way, her inside feminist, humanist and morals led her to act rightly to the end but she only brought pain for herself. Zanzibar is on the eastern side of the world where Arabs and Africans living have different customs. Rory, in most ways tried to explain/warn Hero, he openly laughs at her dreams.
I'm enjoying the change of scenerio, culture of the stories. Last bodice-ripper I read I explored with India, here we deal with the Arabs. I've lived among them for a few years so I can understand their dealings and the author caught every tiny details. I've read the reviews of this book and plenty of them have an issue of the hero raping the heroine and she instantly falling in love with him. Bodice-ripper theme has rape and injustic kind of aura so it's totally expectable. I was sad for darling Amara, I loved every little scenes of her. I didn't expect what happened to her, I wished the author spared her. The involvement of H and h was not until to the end of the book and has no sex scenes. While it's not very romantic it has a HEA for the couples.
"For she’s more t’me than any other thing what I possess,
And I never will he parted from me Bonnie Brown Bess�"
You'll know why I added this singing phrase, it touches my heart for whom it was sung. �
August 11, 2016
At 553 pages, this isn't a book to read in one sitting; but well worth the read however long it takes. It's probably one of the most unusual books Ive read. By that I mean, nothing is black and white. The protagonists are neither all good or all bad.
For example, the heroine, in her attempt to reform the world ends up doing more harm than good; at least at first. She is impetuous, stubborn and naive. But over the course of her experiences in Zanzibar, many of which were unpleasant, she learns a great deal about herself and other people's way of life.
The hero ( I almost shudder to call him that), also has to learn the hard way what NOT to do to make a success of himself, not materially because he does very well in that department, but as a person. He however, never claims to be virtuous. So when he makes some VERY outrageously bad decisions, we're disappointed but not overly surprised, especially when you learn his family background. At some point in the story (around page 350) you'll come to a scene behind closed doors which will shock and disgust you (as it should); but I wouldn't give up on the story just yet. I recommend waiting it out to see how it all ends. Sometimes people do change. And even the unforgivable is not necessarily unforgivable.
While I would never call this male protagonist "hero material", the book had a gritty realism that is hard to argue with. No one lives in a fairy tale ...
Really, if I was to give this book a theme it would be: NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS
The story deals with many things: shipwreck, slave traders, royal revolt and annual pirates "traders". Also the climax of the book is the most chilling: the cholera plague which ultimately killed over 20,000 people. And the most sobering thing about this book is that most of it is absolutely true.
Bottom line: If you like epic tales of history with plenty of excitement and intrigue, you may love Trade Wind. This can not be called a romance by any stretch of the imagination as it (the romance) makes up so little of the book; maybe 2%. It's primarily an adventure and a character study.
CONTENT:
VIOLENCE: Very little. Fratricide is mentioned, and one man is shot through the head as he is carrying the plague.
LANGUAGE: moderate, sprinkled throughout. Mainly D's and B's (fatherless offspring)
SEX: None shown, but there is a rape and you know what happens. Immoral "arrangements" are also spoken of as having taken place by various characters, again, not shown to the reader.
For thematic elements I would rate this PG-13.
For example, the heroine, in her attempt to reform the world ends up doing more harm than good; at least at first. She is impetuous, stubborn and naive. But over the course of her experiences in Zanzibar, many of which were unpleasant, she learns a great deal about herself and other people's way of life.
The hero ( I almost shudder to call him that), also has to learn the hard way what NOT to do to make a success of himself, not materially because he does very well in that department, but as a person. He however, never claims to be virtuous. So when he makes some VERY outrageously bad decisions, we're disappointed but not overly surprised, especially when you learn his family background. At some point in the story (around page 350) you'll come to a scene behind closed doors which will shock and disgust you (as it should); but I wouldn't give up on the story just yet. I recommend waiting it out to see how it all ends. Sometimes people do change. And even the unforgivable is not necessarily unforgivable.
While I would never call this male protagonist "hero material", the book had a gritty realism that is hard to argue with. No one lives in a fairy tale ...
Really, if I was to give this book a theme it would be: NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS
The story deals with many things: shipwreck, slave traders, royal revolt and annual pirates "traders". Also the climax of the book is the most chilling: the cholera plague which ultimately killed over 20,000 people. And the most sobering thing about this book is that most of it is absolutely true.
Bottom line: If you like epic tales of history with plenty of excitement and intrigue, you may love Trade Wind. This can not be called a romance by any stretch of the imagination as it (the romance) makes up so little of the book; maybe 2%. It's primarily an adventure and a character study.
CONTENT:
VIOLENCE: Very little. Fratricide is mentioned, and one man is shot through the head as he is carrying the plague.
LANGUAGE: moderate, sprinkled throughout. Mainly D's and B's (fatherless offspring)
SEX: None shown, but there is a rape and you know what happens. Immoral "arrangements" are also spoken of as having taken place by various characters, again, not shown to the reader.
For thematic elements I would rate this PG-13.
November 22, 2014
This is the story of Hero Athena Hollis, an extremely independent woman of the 19th century, vehemently opposed to slavery and all of society's injustices and determined to use her wealth to stamp them out. After Hero's father dies, she is invited to join her family in Zanzibar where her uncle is serving as the American Counsel. Hero's family always expected that she would marry her aunt's son by a first marriage, even though she is not sure she's in love with him.
While on voyage to Zanzibar during a huge storm, Hero is washed off the boat deck and presumed dead. However, another ship captained by the infamous slave trader Rory Frost pulls up their rigging out of the sea and finds a half drowned, bruised and battered Hero. Since Hero is such a bruised mess from her ordeal, Rory has no idea what a beauty she is until sometime after she has been returned to her family. To say more of the story than this would be revealing the entire plot, which I don't like to do.
M.M. Kaye's knowledge of the Far East shines through, as it does in all her books. She stays as historically accurate as she can, and pulls no punches when describing the customs of the Island, the slave trade, the cholera epidemic and more. And once again, Kaye is able through her books to remind us that the west and east are two different and completely disparate cultures and will never see eye to eye. One other lesson brought to home in this story is when Hero's eyes are opened to the fact that for all her good intentions, going barging in to another culture you know nothing about and trying to change them "for the better" to the more "civilized culture" is inherently wrong, and one should look to correct what is one own's back yard first before trying to change the world.
This was a wonderful tale and I had a hard time putting it down. Out of print, but readily available at my county library.
**SPOILERS DISCUSSED****
I see some of the other reviewers on Amazon were distressed by the rape scene(s) towards the end of the book. While I do not condone rape under any circumstance, one must remember this was 19th century, in a remote island off the east coast of Africa, during a very turbulent time in that island's history. Kaye set the plot well leading up to the rape and Rory's actions, while not fully justified, did fit in with the story line. There were no graphic descriptions; everything was left to the reader's imagination, with no gratuitous sex at all. Rory showed remorse the next day and while those same reviewers felt that the second night was a rape, I did not get that at all. I was surprised at the vehemence of those reviewers who reacted so strongly and I'm glad I reserved judgment and read the book for myself. It's funny how so many of our soap opera heroes began as rapists after attacking the woman who would eventually become his true love and redeemed by Hollywood to become yet another super couple, yet people found this rape to be highly offensive. I don't get it.
While on voyage to Zanzibar during a huge storm, Hero is washed off the boat deck and presumed dead. However, another ship captained by the infamous slave trader Rory Frost pulls up their rigging out of the sea and finds a half drowned, bruised and battered Hero. Since Hero is such a bruised mess from her ordeal, Rory has no idea what a beauty she is until sometime after she has been returned to her family. To say more of the story than this would be revealing the entire plot, which I don't like to do.
M.M. Kaye's knowledge of the Far East shines through, as it does in all her books. She stays as historically accurate as she can, and pulls no punches when describing the customs of the Island, the slave trade, the cholera epidemic and more. And once again, Kaye is able through her books to remind us that the west and east are two different and completely disparate cultures and will never see eye to eye. One other lesson brought to home in this story is when Hero's eyes are opened to the fact that for all her good intentions, going barging in to another culture you know nothing about and trying to change them "for the better" to the more "civilized culture" is inherently wrong, and one should look to correct what is one own's back yard first before trying to change the world.
This was a wonderful tale and I had a hard time putting it down. Out of print, but readily available at my county library.
**SPOILERS DISCUSSED****
I see some of the other reviewers on Amazon were distressed by the rape scene(s) towards the end of the book. While I do not condone rape under any circumstance, one must remember this was 19th century, in a remote island off the east coast of Africa, during a very turbulent time in that island's history. Kaye set the plot well leading up to the rape and Rory's actions, while not fully justified, did fit in with the story line. There were no graphic descriptions; everything was left to the reader's imagination, with no gratuitous sex at all. Rory showed remorse the next day and while those same reviewers felt that the second night was a rape, I did not get that at all. I was surprised at the vehemence of those reviewers who reacted so strongly and I'm glad I reserved judgment and read the book for myself. It's funny how so many of our soap opera heroes began as rapists after attacking the woman who would eventually become his true love and redeemed by Hollywood to become yet another super couple, yet people found this rape to be highly offensive. I don't get it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2015
Every bit as good the second time round! In fact better, because now I was throughly prepared for how things would go and able to love it anyway.
Something I noticed that I hadn't before is that many of the characters that I started out with a dislike for, acquitted themselves by the end. And, while some of them never do or never can (as the case may be), make up for the past for the most part I am happy with how they all "grew", even those who considered themselves well versed in the ways of the world.
I loved Hero's determination to set things to rights, even if she was naive to think she could really do it. She had fire and as Captain Rory Frost thought,"Hero angry, Hero defiant, Hero asleep... A dozen Heros; but none of them afraid and none of them defeated."And he was right, even when she lands herself in scrapes, Hero is never defeated.
Batty Potter remains one of my favorite characters in this book, sure he was nothing but a common thief for most of his life, but in his old age he mellowed and I cannot but love him. He showed his gentleness best with a little girl named Amrah.
Now, as for the controversial bit in this story;
Note: I think this book is better than Zemindar, which was also very good, I just happen to like this story better.
PG-13
We have a rape behind closed doors (the controversy), some "mercy" killing and swears ranging from Ds, Hs, to all three Bs. Several characters have mistresses and there is mention of prostitutes. Also, in the Cholera epidemic we have many, many bodies lying around so that can be rather gritty.
Something I noticed that I hadn't before is that many of the characters that I started out with a dislike for, acquitted themselves by the end. And, while some of them never do or never can (as the case may be), make up for the past for the most part I am happy with how they all "grew", even those who considered themselves well versed in the ways of the world.
I loved Hero's determination to set things to rights, even if she was naive to think she could really do it. She had fire and as Captain Rory Frost thought,"Hero angry, Hero defiant, Hero asleep... A dozen Heros; but none of them afraid and none of them defeated."And he was right, even when she lands herself in scrapes, Hero is never defeated.
Batty Potter remains one of my favorite characters in this book, sure he was nothing but a common thief for most of his life, but in his old age he mellowed and I cannot but love him. He showed his gentleness best with a little girl named Amrah.
Now, as for the controversial bit in this story;
Note: I think this book is better than Zemindar, which was also very good, I just happen to like this story better.
PG-13
We have a rape behind closed doors (the controversy), some "mercy" killing and swears ranging from Ds, Hs, to all three Bs. Several characters have mistresses and there is mention of prostitutes. Also, in the Cholera epidemic we have many, many bodies lying around so that can be rather gritty.
July 16, 2012
No doubt a lot of people will be able to enjoy this story. I enjoyed it myself for about 300 pages or so. It's adventurous and intriguing, although not as good as or . There's just one sticking point that dropped this book down for me...
The reason for the one star isn't because of the quality of writing but because of a turn in the plot that made it difficult for me to stomach anything that came before or after it.
The reason for the one star isn't because of the quality of writing but because of a turn in the plot that made it difficult for me to stomach anything that came before or after it.
September 4, 2024
I have been sick for a couple of days, and I really should've been sleeping last night, instead of finishing this book. But, instead, I was finishing this book.
I am not even sure where to begin with the writing process here. This book is a mass of contradictions: problematic, beautiful, shocking, deplorable, and incredibly compelling. The characters, even more so, with no one character being all good or all bad, even while they are doing things that are horrifying.
This book is about the slave trade in a very real way - and all of the characters (both European and native) are involved in it in some capacity or another, and their opinion of it seems to be informed by and based upon the level to which they personally benefit from it. And the main character, Hero, is a young woman who is deeply opposed to slavery, but who also, as a result of her arrogance and naivete, interferes in the government of Zanzibar and causes the death of dozens of natives. Her interference likely kills as many Zanzibar natives as the slave trade did, in the year that she was there. Does her "pure" heart excuse her from responsibility? What about the fact that her "pure" heart is esentially acting out of ignorance and arrogance, seeking to supplant her judgment (when she has been in Zanzibar for all of about ten days) for the judgment of the native government?
"He said meditatively: ‘Leaving aside the larger issues, why, specifically, do you abominate slave traders? Because they make money out of it?�
‘No.� Hero’s voice was ice. ‘I told you once before and I am quite certain that you have not forgotten it. But if you really wish to hear me repeat it I shall be happy to oblige you. I abominate them because they are personally responsible for the death and agony and degradation of thousands of people. Of innocent human beings who have done them no harm and with whom they have no quarrel. Because they callously condemn to appalling suffering and misery—–� �
Yes, that’s what I thought. I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t got it wrong. Then perhaps, Miss Hollis, you can tell me how it is that, while holding such views, you have recently been doing your damnedest to make yourself personally responsible for the death or mutilation of several hundred human beings who cannot have done you any harm, and with whom � as far as I know � you can hardly have quarrelled? And furthermore, why you should have thought fit to assist in the extension of a trade you profess to abhor? I will absolve you from the charge of doing either of these things for the sake of personal profit; though that at least would have been a more understandable motive than a mere love of meddling. But I confess I find it interesting.�
To Hero's credit, I suppose, she is horrified to learn that she has been used by those who are far more cunning than she was to advance their own interests. But I feel like I am going horribly off track here - again. Let me try to get myself back to the point.
I can't figure out M.M. Kaye, and maybe that is because she, herself, was a mass of contradictions. She, at times, exhibits remarkable insight into the colonial arrogance, with quotes like these:
Yet saving only yourself, I have never yet met a white man who did not consider that I and my people would derive great benefit by changing our ways and imitating theirs, or who did not try and impress upon me the immense superiority of all white laws and customs. It is very strange.� (a statement by the Sultan Majid to Rory Frost).
Or this:
Why, I ask you, should we of the East forsake the laws and customs of our forefathers at the bidding of ignorant and contentious foreigners whose own governments and priests cannot agree among themselves? Tell me that?�
‘Because,� said Rory unkindly, ‘you are not going to be given the option. Not in the long run. You can’t argue with a gunboat if all you have is a canoe and a throwing spear � no aspersions on your fleet, you understand, I was speaking metaphorically. There is a certain tiresome and time-honoured argument that has been in use since the dawn of history and can be best summed up by that elegant sentence: “If you don’t, I’ll kick your
teeth in.�
That, my friend, is what you are up against!� The Sultan wagged his head and said sadly: ‘There are times when I fear you may be right.�
‘I wish I only feared it instead of being sure of it,� said Rory with regret. ‘This is only the morning of the White Man’s Day, Majid. The sun hasn’t reached its zenith yet, and it won’t sink until every Western nation in turn has done its best to foist its own particular Message onto the older civilizations of the East. And by that time, the lesson will have been learned too well and there will be nowhere left in all the world where a man can escape from Progress and do what he damn� well pleases � or find room to breathe in!� (a conversation between Rory Frost and the Sultan, Majid)
Or this:
Somehow Hero did not think so, and for the first time it occurred to her that there were aspects of Western cities and Western civilization that might appear as ugly, crude and appalling to Eastern eyes as Zanzibar and some of its customs had appeared to her. (Hero's ruminations on Seyidda Salme, who has fallen in love with a young German man and fled to Europe to marry him).
And then, at other times, she seems sympathetic to the worst excesses of colonialism. Kaye herself was born in India, the daughter of a British officer in the Indian Army who was raised, first in India, and then in a British boarding school. She returned to India after completing school, and married a British army officer there, and ended up moving 27 times in 19 years, all over the world.
I haven't even gotten to the characters yet, or the so-called romance, and this review is already incredibly long. But I do need to say a few things about them before I close this meandering collection of thoughts. It is rare in a book to see so much complexity in characters. Each of the main characters, in his or her own way, demonstrated remarkable growth throughout the course of events in this book. Hero, herself, is the most obvious of these - she grows from a young woman with all of the answers to a young woman with none of the answers, while assisting in a failed rebellion, being abducted and raped, and then, finally nursing abandoned or orphaned children through a cholera epidemic with no thought to her own health. Rory, as well, exhibits enormous growth of character, from a young man who cares only for revenge and money, to something more.
But, I have to talk about the relationship between Hero and Rory. Since I closed the book, I've thought about their reconciliation and their ultimate decision to be together, and it is really difficult for me to process, and here I will get a bit spoilery, so be warned.
Rory abducted and raped Hero in retaliation for Hero's fiance, Clay, raping a young slave, Zorah, who had borne him a child. And while the rape itself is not described graphically, there is no question but that this was a rape, not a so-called "forced seduction," as was fairly common in books of this vintage. There is a second night, as well, where the question of rape is somewhat less clear, but, nonetheless, I am going to assert that was a rape as well, as it is pretty clear that Hero did not consent on either occasion.
So, wow. Rape was a fairly common trope in books of this sort that were published in the 1970's, so if that is a deal breaker for you, dear reader, by all means skip this book. And, the idea that a woman would fall in love with, and agree to marry, the man who has abducted and raped her, even if he does feel really ashamed of it and even if she might've been developing warm feelings about him before he abducted and raped her, that is really a bridge too far for me, personally. But, on the other hand, the rape is really central to the narrative arc of this story, so while it is a deal breaker for me as far as Rory's character goes - no matter what, I can't root for the rapist - I am not sure that Kaye could've written this book without it.
This book raises so many questions for me, not the least of relates to writing fiction about abhorrent aspects of our shared historical past. What is the *right* way, if there is a right way, to handle that? Reading about characters who act or speak in concert prevailing attitudes that served to oppress women, native populations, black people or whoever the minority might have been is incredibly uncomfortable, and it can be perceived as defending those attitudes and practices themselves. But, at the same time, it is important to be historically accurate, and those attitudes and practices did prevail, and it does not help confront those attitudes to pretend that they didn't. As well, I do believe that it is important for authors to not shy away from tackling tough historical subjects. I would not say that this book glorifies the slave trade. But many of its characters do not condemn it.
To sum up, this book is super, super problematic with elements of colonialism, comment on the slave trade, white savior narratives, and rape. And in spite of all of that, it is also complicated, well-written and absolutely riveting.
I am not even sure where to begin with the writing process here. This book is a mass of contradictions: problematic, beautiful, shocking, deplorable, and incredibly compelling. The characters, even more so, with no one character being all good or all bad, even while they are doing things that are horrifying.
This book is about the slave trade in a very real way - and all of the characters (both European and native) are involved in it in some capacity or another, and their opinion of it seems to be informed by and based upon the level to which they personally benefit from it. And the main character, Hero, is a young woman who is deeply opposed to slavery, but who also, as a result of her arrogance and naivete, interferes in the government of Zanzibar and causes the death of dozens of natives. Her interference likely kills as many Zanzibar natives as the slave trade did, in the year that she was there. Does her "pure" heart excuse her from responsibility? What about the fact that her "pure" heart is esentially acting out of ignorance and arrogance, seeking to supplant her judgment (when she has been in Zanzibar for all of about ten days) for the judgment of the native government?
"He said meditatively: ‘Leaving aside the larger issues, why, specifically, do you abominate slave traders? Because they make money out of it?�
‘No.� Hero’s voice was ice. ‘I told you once before and I am quite certain that you have not forgotten it. But if you really wish to hear me repeat it I shall be happy to oblige you. I abominate them because they are personally responsible for the death and agony and degradation of thousands of people. Of innocent human beings who have done them no harm and with whom they have no quarrel. Because they callously condemn to appalling suffering and misery—–� �
Yes, that’s what I thought. I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t got it wrong. Then perhaps, Miss Hollis, you can tell me how it is that, while holding such views, you have recently been doing your damnedest to make yourself personally responsible for the death or mutilation of several hundred human beings who cannot have done you any harm, and with whom � as far as I know � you can hardly have quarrelled? And furthermore, why you should have thought fit to assist in the extension of a trade you profess to abhor? I will absolve you from the charge of doing either of these things for the sake of personal profit; though that at least would have been a more understandable motive than a mere love of meddling. But I confess I find it interesting.�
To Hero's credit, I suppose, she is horrified to learn that she has been used by those who are far more cunning than she was to advance their own interests. But I feel like I am going horribly off track here - again. Let me try to get myself back to the point.
I can't figure out M.M. Kaye, and maybe that is because she, herself, was a mass of contradictions. She, at times, exhibits remarkable insight into the colonial arrogance, with quotes like these:
Yet saving only yourself, I have never yet met a white man who did not consider that I and my people would derive great benefit by changing our ways and imitating theirs, or who did not try and impress upon me the immense superiority of all white laws and customs. It is very strange.� (a statement by the Sultan Majid to Rory Frost).
Or this:
Why, I ask you, should we of the East forsake the laws and customs of our forefathers at the bidding of ignorant and contentious foreigners whose own governments and priests cannot agree among themselves? Tell me that?�
‘Because,� said Rory unkindly, ‘you are not going to be given the option. Not in the long run. You can’t argue with a gunboat if all you have is a canoe and a throwing spear � no aspersions on your fleet, you understand, I was speaking metaphorically. There is a certain tiresome and time-honoured argument that has been in use since the dawn of history and can be best summed up by that elegant sentence: “If you don’t, I’ll kick your
teeth in.�
That, my friend, is what you are up against!� The Sultan wagged his head and said sadly: ‘There are times when I fear you may be right.�
‘I wish I only feared it instead of being sure of it,� said Rory with regret. ‘This is only the morning of the White Man’s Day, Majid. The sun hasn’t reached its zenith yet, and it won’t sink until every Western nation in turn has done its best to foist its own particular Message onto the older civilizations of the East. And by that time, the lesson will have been learned too well and there will be nowhere left in all the world where a man can escape from Progress and do what he damn� well pleases � or find room to breathe in!� (a conversation between Rory Frost and the Sultan, Majid)
Or this:
Somehow Hero did not think so, and for the first time it occurred to her that there were aspects of Western cities and Western civilization that might appear as ugly, crude and appalling to Eastern eyes as Zanzibar and some of its customs had appeared to her. (Hero's ruminations on Seyidda Salme, who has fallen in love with a young German man and fled to Europe to marry him).
And then, at other times, she seems sympathetic to the worst excesses of colonialism. Kaye herself was born in India, the daughter of a British officer in the Indian Army who was raised, first in India, and then in a British boarding school. She returned to India after completing school, and married a British army officer there, and ended up moving 27 times in 19 years, all over the world.
I haven't even gotten to the characters yet, or the so-called romance, and this review is already incredibly long. But I do need to say a few things about them before I close this meandering collection of thoughts. It is rare in a book to see so much complexity in characters. Each of the main characters, in his or her own way, demonstrated remarkable growth throughout the course of events in this book. Hero, herself, is the most obvious of these - she grows from a young woman with all of the answers to a young woman with none of the answers, while assisting in a failed rebellion, being abducted and raped, and then, finally nursing abandoned or orphaned children through a cholera epidemic with no thought to her own health. Rory, as well, exhibits enormous growth of character, from a young man who cares only for revenge and money, to something more.
But, I have to talk about the relationship between Hero and Rory. Since I closed the book, I've thought about their reconciliation and their ultimate decision to be together, and it is really difficult for me to process, and here I will get a bit spoilery, so be warned.
Rory abducted and raped Hero in retaliation for Hero's fiance, Clay, raping a young slave, Zorah, who had borne him a child. And while the rape itself is not described graphically, there is no question but that this was a rape, not a so-called "forced seduction," as was fairly common in books of this vintage. There is a second night, as well, where the question of rape is somewhat less clear, but, nonetheless, I am going to assert that was a rape as well, as it is pretty clear that Hero did not consent on either occasion.
So, wow. Rape was a fairly common trope in books of this sort that were published in the 1970's, so if that is a deal breaker for you, dear reader, by all means skip this book. And, the idea that a woman would fall in love with, and agree to marry, the man who has abducted and raped her, even if he does feel really ashamed of it and even if she might've been developing warm feelings about him before he abducted and raped her, that is really a bridge too far for me, personally. But, on the other hand, the rape is really central to the narrative arc of this story, so while it is a deal breaker for me as far as Rory's character goes - no matter what, I can't root for the rapist - I am not sure that Kaye could've written this book without it.
This book raises so many questions for me, not the least of relates to writing fiction about abhorrent aspects of our shared historical past. What is the *right* way, if there is a right way, to handle that? Reading about characters who act or speak in concert prevailing attitudes that served to oppress women, native populations, black people or whoever the minority might have been is incredibly uncomfortable, and it can be perceived as defending those attitudes and practices themselves. But, at the same time, it is important to be historically accurate, and those attitudes and practices did prevail, and it does not help confront those attitudes to pretend that they didn't. As well, I do believe that it is important for authors to not shy away from tackling tough historical subjects. I would not say that this book glorifies the slave trade. But many of its characters do not condemn it.
To sum up, this book is super, super problematic with elements of colonialism, comment on the slave trade, white savior narratives, and rape. And in spite of all of that, it is also complicated, well-written and absolutely riveting.
December 2, 2014
Well, the best part was reading it with some great friends. Now, as for the book....I wavered between two and four stars from one chapter to the next so I’ll go for a final rating of three.
On the plus side: the wonderfully evocative descriptions of Zanzibar—beautiful and terrible—and fascinating historical details that seem very well-researched. While none of the main characters were particularly likable all had interesting though not completely believable character arcs. There were some thought–provoking insights into slavery and Arab colonialism in Africa, as well as the perils of European colonial expansion and adventurism.
On the minus side: an overstuffed plot with some very improbable twists and turns; a ‘romantic triangle� that has our nearly-dumb-as-a-post heroine .
On balance: Not up to the incredibly high standards of , but an interesting read for those who love epic historical fiction set in far away places. I think part of my lack of enthusiasm stemmed from the fact that I was reading it concurrently with a series of utterly gripping non-fiction books; against really good history, fiction pales for me.
Content rating PG warning: some crude language, mature thematic situations (slavery, concubinage, rape, war).
Zanzibar! for my Around-the-World reading challenge and our Group Read for November! /group/show/...
On the plus side: the wonderfully evocative descriptions of Zanzibar—beautiful and terrible—and fascinating historical details that seem very well-researched. While none of the main characters were particularly likable all had interesting though not completely believable character arcs. There were some thought–provoking insights into slavery and Arab colonialism in Africa, as well as the perils of European colonial expansion and adventurism.
On the minus side: an overstuffed plot with some very improbable twists and turns; a ‘romantic triangle� that has our nearly-dumb-as-a-post heroine .
On balance: Not up to the incredibly high standards of , but an interesting read for those who love epic historical fiction set in far away places. I think part of my lack of enthusiasm stemmed from the fact that I was reading it concurrently with a series of utterly gripping non-fiction books; against really good history, fiction pales for me.
Content rating PG warning: some crude language, mature thematic situations (slavery, concubinage, rape, war).
Zanzibar! for my Around-the-World reading challenge and our Group Read for November! /group/show/...
November 27, 2014
Just as awesome the second time around.
March 16, 2021
Trade Wind by M. M. Kaye is a lengthy historical romance with pirates, exotic locations, sultans and a cholera epidemic. If you enjoy epics and spending a lot of quality time with a story, this is a good novel for that.
After her father dies, Hero Ellis embarks upon a journey to the island of Zanzibar to be with her uncle, the American consulate at Zanzibar, his family and her bethrothed, Clayton. Hero is a headstrong young woman much concerned about the moral ills of the world and her current obsession is ending slavery. While en route to Zanzibar, Hero attempts to fight her sea-sickness by going up to the deck during a storm. She is swept off the boat by a wave, but fortunately rescued by the crew of the Virago. Unfortunately, the ship is captained by Rory Frost, an English rascal who engages in all sorts of skullduggery, including trading in slaves. Hero is of course horrified to be on board a slaver ship and proceeds to lecture the captain every chance she gets. Eventually she is returned to the safety of the consulate at Zanzibar and, over the course of a tumultuous year, learns many hard lessons about life and love.
In an author’s note at the end of my ebook, I learn that, aside from some of the characters being fictional, most of the events in the book happened as the author describes them in the novel. She compressed the time frame, but the attempted coup by Bargash to take the throne from his older brother, Majid (the current Sultan of Zanzibar); the pirates; the cholera epidemic—all occurred. Historical fiction that keeps the history as intact as possible is my preference because (as we all know) reality is always crazier than fiction. At over 600 pages, this is a long novel, but Kaye did an admirable job of creating complex characters who change and grow as they deal with the events of the novel. Hero, of course, is the main character and undergoes the greatest change. She is insufferable for much of the novel: self-righteous, know-it-all, priggish, and extremely comfortable in the idea that she, as a white woman, has come to deliver the heathens and savages of the East (a mix of Africans—freed and current slaves—and Muslim Arabs) from their unsanitary and unfulfilling ways of life. Her attitude (and those of some of the other white people) is very patronizing. There’s a good bit of sympathy expressed for the Africans and their plight as slaves and the British patrol and consulate do what they can to prevent and stop the local slave trade. Most of the patronizing attitude is towards the Arabs; the small white population on the island (mix of Americans and Europeans) cannot understand their attitude toward the lack of sanitation, their religion, and overall way of life. What’s amusing is Kaye flips this narrative and has the Eastern view expressed as well by the Sultan and the women of his household; they consider white people to be just as ignorant, uninformed and depraved (because their woman are allowed to mingle with men without veils) as white people think of them. Kaye does this throughout the novel—allows the characters to express their various perspectives. The book is written in third person omniscient so the thoughts of the major characters (and some of the minor) are known.
While I did skim a lot of philosophizing and conversations and internal dialogue (since I’ve read the book a few times already), what I really like about the book is how Kaye allows her characters to be complicated. No one is an angel in this book. Hero, the high-minded moral person she thinks she is, causes the death of several people due to her arrogance in thinking she was right and ignoring the advice of Rory (and others) to not involve herself in events she didn’t fully understand. Rory is not always a good guy, he has sold slaves, but he is a realist and a practical person. He understands the people and culture of Zanzibar very well and is not a cruel person, but helps when he can. He’s also probably the most interesting person in the novel. Hero has her personal journey of enlightenment, but it takes a long time and after a while you want to bitch slap her and tell her to stop the self-pity and tell off Clayton (douche bag) and take charge of her life.
I’d say that the overall theme of this novel is that the characters do undergo personal transformations because of the events they have to deal with, but the growth in their character is realistic and within the bounds of who they are essentially. The island itself sounds like a fascinating place to visit (although not stay for too long—any place that’s so humid it causes mold to grow on leather books overnight is not the place for me) and I’d love to read more on the history. This is a great novel to spend a few weeks with because it is full of so many descriptions of the island, has a lot of intrigues, and presents the people of Zanzibar—both the native population and the white settlers—as fully fledged people, complex and complicated.
I’d recommend this book to fans of historical fiction. If you like this, try her novels (also historically based): The Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon. The Far Pavilions is the longest and perhaps the most detailed, but it’s absolutely fascinating.
After her father dies, Hero Ellis embarks upon a journey to the island of Zanzibar to be with her uncle, the American consulate at Zanzibar, his family and her bethrothed, Clayton. Hero is a headstrong young woman much concerned about the moral ills of the world and her current obsession is ending slavery. While en route to Zanzibar, Hero attempts to fight her sea-sickness by going up to the deck during a storm. She is swept off the boat by a wave, but fortunately rescued by the crew of the Virago. Unfortunately, the ship is captained by Rory Frost, an English rascal who engages in all sorts of skullduggery, including trading in slaves. Hero is of course horrified to be on board a slaver ship and proceeds to lecture the captain every chance she gets. Eventually she is returned to the safety of the consulate at Zanzibar and, over the course of a tumultuous year, learns many hard lessons about life and love.
In an author’s note at the end of my ebook, I learn that, aside from some of the characters being fictional, most of the events in the book happened as the author describes them in the novel. She compressed the time frame, but the attempted coup by Bargash to take the throne from his older brother, Majid (the current Sultan of Zanzibar); the pirates; the cholera epidemic—all occurred. Historical fiction that keeps the history as intact as possible is my preference because (as we all know) reality is always crazier than fiction. At over 600 pages, this is a long novel, but Kaye did an admirable job of creating complex characters who change and grow as they deal with the events of the novel. Hero, of course, is the main character and undergoes the greatest change. She is insufferable for much of the novel: self-righteous, know-it-all, priggish, and extremely comfortable in the idea that she, as a white woman, has come to deliver the heathens and savages of the East (a mix of Africans—freed and current slaves—and Muslim Arabs) from their unsanitary and unfulfilling ways of life. Her attitude (and those of some of the other white people) is very patronizing. There’s a good bit of sympathy expressed for the Africans and their plight as slaves and the British patrol and consulate do what they can to prevent and stop the local slave trade. Most of the patronizing attitude is towards the Arabs; the small white population on the island (mix of Americans and Europeans) cannot understand their attitude toward the lack of sanitation, their religion, and overall way of life. What’s amusing is Kaye flips this narrative and has the Eastern view expressed as well by the Sultan and the women of his household; they consider white people to be just as ignorant, uninformed and depraved (because their woman are allowed to mingle with men without veils) as white people think of them. Kaye does this throughout the novel—allows the characters to express their various perspectives. The book is written in third person omniscient so the thoughts of the major characters (and some of the minor) are known.
While I did skim a lot of philosophizing and conversations and internal dialogue (since I’ve read the book a few times already), what I really like about the book is how Kaye allows her characters to be complicated. No one is an angel in this book. Hero, the high-minded moral person she thinks she is, causes the death of several people due to her arrogance in thinking she was right and ignoring the advice of Rory (and others) to not involve herself in events she didn’t fully understand. Rory is not always a good guy, he has sold slaves, but he is a realist and a practical person. He understands the people and culture of Zanzibar very well and is not a cruel person, but helps when he can. He’s also probably the most interesting person in the novel. Hero has her personal journey of enlightenment, but it takes a long time and after a while you want to bitch slap her and tell her to stop the self-pity and tell off Clayton (douche bag) and take charge of her life.
I’d say that the overall theme of this novel is that the characters do undergo personal transformations because of the events they have to deal with, but the growth in their character is realistic and within the bounds of who they are essentially. The island itself sounds like a fascinating place to visit (although not stay for too long—any place that’s so humid it causes mold to grow on leather books overnight is not the place for me) and I’d love to read more on the history. This is a great novel to spend a few weeks with because it is full of so many descriptions of the island, has a lot of intrigues, and presents the people of Zanzibar—both the native population and the white settlers—as fully fledged people, complex and complicated.
I’d recommend this book to fans of historical fiction. If you like this, try her novels (also historically based): The Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon. The Far Pavilions is the longest and perhaps the most detailed, but it’s absolutely fascinating.
March 14, 2019
Warning: this is an epic book rant - aka what happens when you decide to make a rapist slave trader your sympathetic protagonist.
Now on with the show.
You may or may not know my love for the British author MM Kaye, who wrote two of my favorite novels, both set in 19th century India - The Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon.
Both of those are sprawling epic masterpieces (IMO) that convey both a sense of the place and give us truly amazing protagonists supported by a fascinating cast of secondaries. The modern reader might not always agree with her take on the British Empire (though her characters are all fully-fleshed people regardless of race, her novels largely center on the British, for obvious reasons), but taking into account that the writer was born in 1908, there is nothing that particularly stands out.
MM Kaye was not a prolific writer. In addition to a handful of mysteries and children’s books (which are not my genres and which therefore I just don’t read), she wrote only three novels. The two I mentioned above and her first, Trade Wind. I was always very sorry about that. Until I finally read Trade Wind, which I was saving as a sort of last chance to read a new M. M. Kaye novel.
Oooops.
Trade Wind, unlike TFP and SotM is not set in 19th century India but in 19th century Zanzibar. That’s fine and in fact Kaye’s skill of transporting the reader into another world complete with such immersion you feel you are there, is already present in this novel.
However, this is also the most rage-inducing book it has been my displeasure to read in years. Somehow, I don’t mind awful characters we are supposed to like or paper thin character/relationship development in a slim, self-published volume. But in a doorstopper written by one of my favorite authors? Oh my.
The problem? Twofold and tied together - the male protagonist and the so-called romance.
If you’ve read TFP and SotM, you will find that the male protagonists of those novels are of the same mold - British officers who are driven, full of integrity and following their own path no matter the hardship, and full of honor in every sense of the word. They are the embodiment of a Victorian ideal of manhood, in many ways, minus their stubborn refusal to view non-whites as inferior. Ash and Alex are both pretty damn awesome. On a romance front, they are totally a dreamy thing too - they love well and strongly, they treat the object of their affection well and will risk their own goals and well-being to make sure they are OK. Ash literally gives up his whole world and heritage to be with Juli. Alex tries to prevent Winter’s disaster of a marriage even if it will wreck his career and later saves her during the Mutiny at a huge cost and risk. They are not saints, but they are clearly and indubitably good men.
TW also has a character like that - Dan is a British navy captain who is charged with preventing slave traders (that ply the waters around Zanzibar due to some legal loopholes) and who carries out his grim duty no matter what. He loves the American consul’s daughter but will not sacrifice his beliefs even for her. His gritted teeth perseverance and honor are swoon-worthy.
The problem? Dan (and his Cressy) are secondary characters, and our hero is Rory Frost. Rory is male and British. There his resemblance to other Kaye protagonists ends. Rory is a bastard. No, I don’t mean his parents were not married, they were. I mean he is an utter and complete dumpster fire of a human being who Kaye somehow wants us to love. It’s as if she read Gone with the Wind and decided to write her own Rhett, rape of love interest included, but since this wasn’t her forte, she managed to include only the horrifying parts.
Rory captains his own ship. Rory trades in slaves (and other things, but SLAVES!!!!) Rory feels zero guilt, shame or really anything other than “I love money� about it. Does he have a growth arc where he realizes that’s bad? Nope. Rory gives up slave trading by the end because he doesn’t need the money, his OTP doesn’t like it, and he has to move elsewhere where it’s not profitable.
Mmmm, who doesn’t swoon over Simon Legree?
Kaye makes sure to inform us that Rory transports his slaves humanely (!!!!!!) because he thinks it’s bad business to lose profit through death. He also rats out bad slavers to the authorities (because he thinks pointless cruelty is bad but one for profit is good apparently; plus it keeps the radar off him. Apparently Kaye thinks that if Rory sold X slaves but X+Y slaves got freed because of his tips, it somehow balances things out.)
Ummmmm.
So, a slaver in the 1850s, so it’s not even some “well, it’s ancient Rome, it’s the way of life� excuse.
But let’s continue because I assure you that is not all that is wrong with the sociopath that is Rory.
Rory has a “native� mistress and child, who conveniently die clearing the way for the white heroine. Kaye does a really bad job conveying he feels anything for them! She clearly wants us to think he’s an OK dad because he turns himself in to authorities so that his child can leave the cholera-stricken island even though he knows he will hang. OK. But when said child dies anyway, Kaye forgets to insert one measly scene showing Rory is sad or anything. It’s out of sight out of mind.
Oh and the mistress? Gets raped by our heroine’s fiance.
Let’s back up - the heroine, Hero Hollis, is pretty awesome. Gorgeous, rich and a confirmed crusader for social causes of the day, she gets engaged to her rapist cousin (who is actually viewed pretty leniently - in a “well, he thought she was a whore and he paid her so whatever� attitude about the rape.)
When Rory’s mistress kills herself, Rory decides to get revenge. How? By kidnapping Hero and raping her.
You read that right. Not by catching and killing the rapist. But by raping the rapist’s woman, which pretty much says all you need to know about Rory’s attitude to women.
And it is rape - none of that forced seduction trope here. Hero is bruised and hating all men and destroyed in the morning.
But it’s OK! The next day, he gets her drunk and is at it again but it’s forced seduction this time! (Though in an inexplicable writing choice, we don’t find out that Hero enjoyed it the second time around until near the end of the novel, which makes my hate for Rory brighter and her actions after she is rescued inexplicable. In addition to being awful from the moral standpoint, it’s just bad writing. By the time we learn she liked the rough handling, it’s much too late to change the reader’s opinion on the dude, even if one is OK with forced seduction.)
This is the OTP, ladies and gentlemen.
If you think Rory at any point feels bad, because any non psycho person will feel bad for hurting the woman he supposedly loves? Hahahahahaha nope. Even after he realizes he loves Hero, nope no regrets.
Realistic for a slave trader. Great to read about as a positive character? No.
Frankly, for me and my taste in old school romance, an OTP can possibly survive even something like this (though not the slave trader thing) if it’s all forced seduction so the woman at least enjoys it, The Sheik style, AND if the dude changes and repents AND if there is sufficient development in the relationship where I can buy it as a dysfunctional but passionate relationship.
But yeah, in addition to lack of any remorse, the relationship is barely developed before or after. Before this, she spends a week on his ship where they dislike each other (and not in a “I want to rip clothes off you� way) and barely interact. After that, I think they meet maybe twice or thrice and I was getting no romantic vibe there. Afterwards, they meet once when she shanghais him into opening his house to a bunch of orphans for a month (which was delightful I admit) but we barely have any of their interactions on the written page. If it wasn’t for the revenge rape or slave trading, I would still never go for that romance because it’s so underwritten, it’s barely there. But throw that in! The hero and the heroine somehow realize they love each other 95% in and I am left going “huh? how? since when?� I admit I laughed when Rory “realized� that the reason he kidnapped and assaulted Hero was not for revenge but because he wanted to have her first. Ummmmm…that is unsupported by anything in the previous text, is a horrifying attitude I have no words for, and further dehumanizes/diminishes his dead mistress.
I am left to wonder if Kaye was possessed when she wrote this novel, or whether she was possessed when she wrote the other two. They are like night and day!
I think she was going for charming rogue with Rory but overshot it by about 10,000 miles.
So basically, it’s an awful book, and I truly don’t feel bad now she didn’t write more than the three historicals she did.
Now on with the show.
You may or may not know my love for the British author MM Kaye, who wrote two of my favorite novels, both set in 19th century India - The Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon.
Both of those are sprawling epic masterpieces (IMO) that convey both a sense of the place and give us truly amazing protagonists supported by a fascinating cast of secondaries. The modern reader might not always agree with her take on the British Empire (though her characters are all fully-fleshed people regardless of race, her novels largely center on the British, for obvious reasons), but taking into account that the writer was born in 1908, there is nothing that particularly stands out.
MM Kaye was not a prolific writer. In addition to a handful of mysteries and children’s books (which are not my genres and which therefore I just don’t read), she wrote only three novels. The two I mentioned above and her first, Trade Wind. I was always very sorry about that. Until I finally read Trade Wind, which I was saving as a sort of last chance to read a new M. M. Kaye novel.
Oooops.
Trade Wind, unlike TFP and SotM is not set in 19th century India but in 19th century Zanzibar. That’s fine and in fact Kaye’s skill of transporting the reader into another world complete with such immersion you feel you are there, is already present in this novel.
However, this is also the most rage-inducing book it has been my displeasure to read in years. Somehow, I don’t mind awful characters we are supposed to like or paper thin character/relationship development in a slim, self-published volume. But in a doorstopper written by one of my favorite authors? Oh my.
The problem? Twofold and tied together - the male protagonist and the so-called romance.
If you’ve read TFP and SotM, you will find that the male protagonists of those novels are of the same mold - British officers who are driven, full of integrity and following their own path no matter the hardship, and full of honor in every sense of the word. They are the embodiment of a Victorian ideal of manhood, in many ways, minus their stubborn refusal to view non-whites as inferior. Ash and Alex are both pretty damn awesome. On a romance front, they are totally a dreamy thing too - they love well and strongly, they treat the object of their affection well and will risk their own goals and well-being to make sure they are OK. Ash literally gives up his whole world and heritage to be with Juli. Alex tries to prevent Winter’s disaster of a marriage even if it will wreck his career and later saves her during the Mutiny at a huge cost and risk. They are not saints, but they are clearly and indubitably good men.
TW also has a character like that - Dan is a British navy captain who is charged with preventing slave traders (that ply the waters around Zanzibar due to some legal loopholes) and who carries out his grim duty no matter what. He loves the American consul’s daughter but will not sacrifice his beliefs even for her. His gritted teeth perseverance and honor are swoon-worthy.
The problem? Dan (and his Cressy) are secondary characters, and our hero is Rory Frost. Rory is male and British. There his resemblance to other Kaye protagonists ends. Rory is a bastard. No, I don’t mean his parents were not married, they were. I mean he is an utter and complete dumpster fire of a human being who Kaye somehow wants us to love. It’s as if she read Gone with the Wind and decided to write her own Rhett, rape of love interest included, but since this wasn’t her forte, she managed to include only the horrifying parts.
Rory captains his own ship. Rory trades in slaves (and other things, but SLAVES!!!!) Rory feels zero guilt, shame or really anything other than “I love money� about it. Does he have a growth arc where he realizes that’s bad? Nope. Rory gives up slave trading by the end because he doesn’t need the money, his OTP doesn’t like it, and he has to move elsewhere where it’s not profitable.
Mmmm, who doesn’t swoon over Simon Legree?
Kaye makes sure to inform us that Rory transports his slaves humanely (!!!!!!) because he thinks it’s bad business to lose profit through death. He also rats out bad slavers to the authorities (because he thinks pointless cruelty is bad but one for profit is good apparently; plus it keeps the radar off him. Apparently Kaye thinks that if Rory sold X slaves but X+Y slaves got freed because of his tips, it somehow balances things out.)
Ummmmm.
So, a slaver in the 1850s, so it’s not even some “well, it’s ancient Rome, it’s the way of life� excuse.
But let’s continue because I assure you that is not all that is wrong with the sociopath that is Rory.
Rory has a “native� mistress and child, who conveniently die clearing the way for the white heroine. Kaye does a really bad job conveying he feels anything for them! She clearly wants us to think he’s an OK dad because he turns himself in to authorities so that his child can leave the cholera-stricken island even though he knows he will hang. OK. But when said child dies anyway, Kaye forgets to insert one measly scene showing Rory is sad or anything. It’s out of sight out of mind.
Oh and the mistress? Gets raped by our heroine’s fiance.
Let’s back up - the heroine, Hero Hollis, is pretty awesome. Gorgeous, rich and a confirmed crusader for social causes of the day, she gets engaged to her rapist cousin (who is actually viewed pretty leniently - in a “well, he thought she was a whore and he paid her so whatever� attitude about the rape.)
When Rory’s mistress kills herself, Rory decides to get revenge. How? By kidnapping Hero and raping her.
You read that right. Not by catching and killing the rapist. But by raping the rapist’s woman, which pretty much says all you need to know about Rory’s attitude to women.
And it is rape - none of that forced seduction trope here. Hero is bruised and hating all men and destroyed in the morning.
But it’s OK! The next day, he gets her drunk and is at it again but it’s forced seduction this time! (Though in an inexplicable writing choice, we don’t find out that Hero enjoyed it the second time around until near the end of the novel, which makes my hate for Rory brighter and her actions after she is rescued inexplicable. In addition to being awful from the moral standpoint, it’s just bad writing. By the time we learn she liked the rough handling, it’s much too late to change the reader’s opinion on the dude, even if one is OK with forced seduction.)
This is the OTP, ladies and gentlemen.
If you think Rory at any point feels bad, because any non psycho person will feel bad for hurting the woman he supposedly loves? Hahahahahaha nope. Even after he realizes he loves Hero, nope no regrets.
Realistic for a slave trader. Great to read about as a positive character? No.
Frankly, for me and my taste in old school romance, an OTP can possibly survive even something like this (though not the slave trader thing) if it’s all forced seduction so the woman at least enjoys it, The Sheik style, AND if the dude changes and repents AND if there is sufficient development in the relationship where I can buy it as a dysfunctional but passionate relationship.
But yeah, in addition to lack of any remorse, the relationship is barely developed before or after. Before this, she spends a week on his ship where they dislike each other (and not in a “I want to rip clothes off you� way) and barely interact. After that, I think they meet maybe twice or thrice and I was getting no romantic vibe there. Afterwards, they meet once when she shanghais him into opening his house to a bunch of orphans for a month (which was delightful I admit) but we barely have any of their interactions on the written page. If it wasn’t for the revenge rape or slave trading, I would still never go for that romance because it’s so underwritten, it’s barely there. But throw that in! The hero and the heroine somehow realize they love each other 95% in and I am left going “huh? how? since when?� I admit I laughed when Rory “realized� that the reason he kidnapped and assaulted Hero was not for revenge but because he wanted to have her first. Ummmmm…that is unsupported by anything in the previous text, is a horrifying attitude I have no words for, and further dehumanizes/diminishes his dead mistress.
I am left to wonder if Kaye was possessed when she wrote this novel, or whether she was possessed when she wrote the other two. They are like night and day!
I think she was going for charming rogue with Rory but overshot it by about 10,000 miles.
So basically, it’s an awful book, and I truly don’t feel bad now she didn’t write more than the three historicals she did.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2022
One way or another, all our houses are glass.
M.M. Kaye was a master of intertwining historical facts with her own more or less fictional stories and this way creating a magnificent historical fiction. And I mean not only well written and accurate historical fiction but terrific, stupendous, phenomenal. There were/are few such writers. I am out of real life when I read her book. I even neglect duties.
she did not believe that you could stop loving someone because they hurt or disappointed you—however much you might wish to do so
She was also a wizard of inventing and depicting great love stories. Her novels aren't romances taking place amongst historical events. They could have been deprived of a romance and they would have been still fantastic. But I am unbelievably happy that they are there.
The characters - I am repeating myself - were, of course, phenomenal too. Hero..., Rory..., Dan..., Clay..., Thérèse..., Majid..., Batty... How I wish there were many more authors that can create such characters...
Patriotism be damned. That whole concept is merely a combination of self-interest and sentimentality.
Again, reading it you will ask yourself about loyalty and nationality and many other issues that had to be very important to M.M. Kaye because they are in all her books.
A man is not responsible for his ancestors, so why should he accept credit or shoulder blame for anything they did? Or, for that matter, be judged in advance by the fact that he happens to have been born on one side or another of some imaginary line? It’s an archaic and dangerous idea and it’s quite time it became outmoded, since it leads to a deal of trouble. People are people; black, white, yellow or brown. You either like someone or you don’t, and the bit of earth they were born on shouldn’t have anything to do with it or be allowed to influence your judgement in any way.
In this one, the main topic is freedom and slavery - a difficult and complex question in times when human civilization decided to end with it.
It is not our practice to meddle in the conduct or politics of other countries, or to become involved in their domestic disputes. We should strive to remain neutral; if not in thought then at least in deed. And to avoid any appearance of taking sides, because once we start doing that we shall find ourselves committed all over the globe. Committed, as the British are, to interference and responsibility, oppression and suppression—and war. The founders of our country and a great many of its present citizens were and are men who fled from interference and interminable wars. They wanted peace and freedom, and by God, they got it. But the surest way to lose it is by permitting ourselves to get mixed up in the unsavoury squabbles of foreign nations.
It was very interesting to read about times when the USA wasn't trying to meddle everywhere around the world. Personally, I think that crossing that line was a bad thing for the USA and American. As well as it was bad for the UK (British Empire felt apart eventually because of it).
The sun hasn’t reached its zenith yet, and it won’t sink until every Western nation in turn has done its best to foist its own particular Message onto the older civilizations of the East. And by that time, the lesson will have been learned too well and there will be nowhere left in all the world where a man can escape from Progress and do what he damn� well pleases—or find room to breathe in!
Obviously, M.M. Kaye showed a deep, wise look at human nature too.
people do things, or don’t do them, because there is something in them that pushes them that way and that they are not always strong enough to fight against…something that perhaps they cannot help; heredity, or the wrong sort of teaching. Or strong appetites that need to be satisfied, and which I—I never really understood anything about…before
She had reached, without knowing it, a crossroads that was to decide not only her whole life, but the kind of woman she would become
There was also that longing for the world that changed irreversibly/died. So characteristic in Kaye's books.
It would not be long before there were twice as many people in the world as there had been when he, Emory Frost, had been born in that quiet old manor house in Kent. And after that three times as many; and then four—and five� There would be more Restrictions, more Discipline, more Laws. And more Tyranny!…all the things he had rebelled against. There would be no escaping them, and he wondered if the world of the next century would be the better for them or the worse, and why he should never have realized before that what he had taken to be misfortune had, in reality, been luck in disguise. Incredible luck!
Like M.M. Kaye I tell you, no matter where you live, who you are and how the world is changing:
You’re the one you’ve got to live with.
March 27, 2015
M.M. Kaye has a beautiful way with words. I finished this book faster than I have ever finished a 551 page book. And yet, I can't quite bring myself to give it five stars. Maybe I can manage a 4 1/2? Just.
Batty ( a sailor on Captain Rory's ship ) who was a rogue through and through, was still a likable sort because he had a heart.
Clay, I thoroughly disliked as he was a selfish blackard.
Whille, Hero ( the heroine ) was a "leap and then look" sort of person. She was full of good ideas, but she didn't think them out first ( which lead to all sorts of disasters ).
As for Captain Rory Frost,
(the Hero!??), I do not admire him, but I am very sorry for him.
This isn't really a romance, it's more of an epic tale, and more fact than fiction. The story itself deserves five stars the characters took of a star because I couldn't root for most of them and I didn't believe the love story part. (girl falls in love with a dispicable man? I think not.) I still enjoyed Trade Wind and would read it again. I would have liked Captain Frost to change a bit more however.
There was a fair bit of language (mainly H's, D's and B's) and not much in the way of violence other than someone getting shot, (no details thankfully). There was a rape but, it was behind closed doors. FYI there was some mention of mistresses and prostitutes throughout. Also there was a hand reading by a fortune teller and some superstitions. And no matter how how bad the characters may seem, most of them are not what you think and often have an explanation, but maybe not very good ones�
Batty ( a sailor on Captain Rory's ship ) who was a rogue through and through, was still a likable sort because he had a heart.
Clay, I thoroughly disliked as he was a selfish blackard.
Whille, Hero ( the heroine ) was a "leap and then look" sort of person. She was full of good ideas, but she didn't think them out first ( which lead to all sorts of disasters ).
As for Captain Rory Frost,
(the Hero!??), I do not admire him, but I am very sorry for him.
This isn't really a romance, it's more of an epic tale, and more fact than fiction. The story itself deserves five stars the characters took of a star because I couldn't root for most of them and I didn't believe the love story part. (girl falls in love with a dispicable man? I think not.) I still enjoyed Trade Wind and would read it again. I would have liked Captain Frost to change a bit more however.
There was a fair bit of language (mainly H's, D's and B's) and not much in the way of violence other than someone getting shot, (no details thankfully). There was a rape but, it was behind closed doors. FYI there was some mention of mistresses and prostitutes throughout. Also there was a hand reading by a fortune teller and some superstitions. And no matter how how bad the characters may seem, most of them are not what you think and often have an explanation, but maybe not very good ones�
December 11, 2014
Group read November 2014.
Trade Wind is panoramic historical romance, in the style of M.M. Kaye’s others, Shadow of the Moon and Far Pavilions, both of which I read years ago, before Amazon and ŷ made it possible for me to find more of her books. Trade Wind is still out of print, but I was able to obtain a used paperback copy. Despite the yellowing pages and the cheesy cover, it was easy to sink into this story—it’s vivid, sensory writing, delivering the harsh and sometimes absurd historical realities with deadpan ease.
Because it’s Kaye, the story begins before the heroine’s birth, the aptly named Hero Hollis. The formative years are a little thick But it didn’t take too long before the redoubtable Hero (prissy, determined, and not entirely likeable) was dumped into the ocean and into the hero, Captain Emory Frost’s lap. Which was, I must say, entirely satisfying.
It's a match-up of an unprincipled rogue and a high-minded, 'I know best' girl with a judgement complex, but it gets more complicated than that.
I like a romance that isn’t all about romance—where there are real, important, gut clenching things happening, and Trade Wind is certainly that. Kaye doesn’t flinch from describing the horrors of the slave trade, or sickening realities—that freed slaves often ended up being worse off because they couldn’t find work, or they ended up being recaptured and sold again.
The principals, Hero and Rory, spar quite wonderfully, but it’s not merely the kind of sly bantering I associate with romance. (There's some great banter, but there's some rip-roaring argument too). Rory and Hero are battling over real, terrifying things: Rory’s business as a slave trader (Yep, you got that right), Hero’s attempt to aid rebels in overthrowing the Sultan of Zanzibar, which leads to fighting and many deaths, arms dealing, revenge, rape, epidemic cholera, neglect, and murder. It makes issues of class or insta-dislike seem…oh, just a little trite.
It’s a romance, but it isn’t. The historical ‘adventure� is a huge part of the story, but, like Shadow of the Moon and the Far Pavilions, it’s a story about two people who survive as the world they know burns, singeing away everything (almost) but their love for each other. And yet, it isn’t that simple. Rory and Hero both do as much harm as good, to their world and to each other. But, (and this book is full of buts) she and Rory do change each other, and for the better.
Rory leaves the slave trade, and though I doubt he’ll ever be squeaky clean, he is reconciled to a life as Hero’s consort on her campaigns of good works. Together, they steady each other, and actually do a great deal of good, and, we are led to believe, will continue to do so. He tempers her desperate idealism, and she redirects his skill. Or something like that. Misguided broadsword-philanthropy is a disaster, but Hero has realized she can succeed on a smaller, more personal scale.
.
In fact, the redemptive backfilling at the end, while very satisfying does seem a little…well, a little much maybe, though I enjoyed every bit of it. It seemed a little Shakespearean, that just about everyone ended up getting married, except Clay, who deserves to be kicked around the world. Twice.
I expected a ripping yarn and was not disappointed, though moral ambiguities certainly abound. However, I enjoyed the book so much I’d be a hypocrite if I gave it less than 4 stars. If M.M. Kaye had written more of these doorstoppers, I’d be greedily thumbing through them too.
Trade Wind is panoramic historical romance, in the style of M.M. Kaye’s others, Shadow of the Moon and Far Pavilions, both of which I read years ago, before Amazon and ŷ made it possible for me to find more of her books. Trade Wind is still out of print, but I was able to obtain a used paperback copy. Despite the yellowing pages and the cheesy cover, it was easy to sink into this story—it’s vivid, sensory writing, delivering the harsh and sometimes absurd historical realities with deadpan ease.
Because it’s Kaye, the story begins before the heroine’s birth, the aptly named Hero Hollis. The formative years are a little thick But it didn’t take too long before the redoubtable Hero (prissy, determined, and not entirely likeable) was dumped into the ocean and into the hero, Captain Emory Frost’s lap. Which was, I must say, entirely satisfying.
It's a match-up of an unprincipled rogue and a high-minded, 'I know best' girl with a judgement complex, but it gets more complicated than that.
I like a romance that isn’t all about romance—where there are real, important, gut clenching things happening, and Trade Wind is certainly that. Kaye doesn’t flinch from describing the horrors of the slave trade, or sickening realities—that freed slaves often ended up being worse off because they couldn’t find work, or they ended up being recaptured and sold again.
The principals, Hero and Rory, spar quite wonderfully, but it’s not merely the kind of sly bantering I associate with romance. (There's some great banter, but there's some rip-roaring argument too). Rory and Hero are battling over real, terrifying things: Rory’s business as a slave trader (Yep, you got that right), Hero’s attempt to aid rebels in overthrowing the Sultan of Zanzibar, which leads to fighting and many deaths, arms dealing, revenge, rape, epidemic cholera, neglect, and murder. It makes issues of class or insta-dislike seem…oh, just a little trite.
It’s a romance, but it isn’t. The historical ‘adventure� is a huge part of the story, but, like Shadow of the Moon and the Far Pavilions, it’s a story about two people who survive as the world they know burns, singeing away everything (almost) but their love for each other. And yet, it isn’t that simple. Rory and Hero both do as much harm as good, to their world and to each other. But, (and this book is full of buts) she and Rory do change each other, and for the better.
Rory leaves the slave trade, and though I doubt he’ll ever be squeaky clean, he is reconciled to a life as Hero’s consort on her campaigns of good works. Together, they steady each other, and actually do a great deal of good, and, we are led to believe, will continue to do so. He tempers her desperate idealism, and she redirects his skill. Or something like that. Misguided broadsword-philanthropy is a disaster, but Hero has realized she can succeed on a smaller, more personal scale.
.
In fact, the redemptive backfilling at the end, while very satisfying does seem a little…well, a little much maybe, though I enjoyed every bit of it. It seemed a little Shakespearean, that just about everyone ended up getting married, except Clay, who deserves to be kicked around the world. Twice.
I expected a ripping yarn and was not disappointed, though moral ambiguities certainly abound. However, I enjoyed the book so much I’d be a hypocrite if I gave it less than 4 stars. If M.M. Kaye had written more of these doorstoppers, I’d be greedily thumbing through them too.
January 2, 2010
All the sea is not deep enough to wash away blood relationship.
What is written is written...
Visit those you love, though your abode be distant,
And clouds and darkness have arisen between you...
This is the extraordinary story of Hero Hollis and Rory Frost which is settled in Zanzibar. The author did a splendid work by describing the story of this not-well know island during slavery in the 19th century, showing the unfair game between France and England in order to profit of these workers.
For further information, please see the wonderful reviews by Misfit and Hannahr. Certainly this book will be included in my favorite books I have ever read, really magnificent!!
What is written is written...
Visit those you love, though your abode be distant,
And clouds and darkness have arisen between you...
This is the extraordinary story of Hero Hollis and Rory Frost which is settled in Zanzibar. The author did a splendid work by describing the story of this not-well know island during slavery in the 19th century, showing the unfair game between France and England in order to profit of these workers.
For further information, please see the wonderful reviews by Misfit and Hannahr. Certainly this book will be included in my favorite books I have ever read, really magnificent!!
February 19, 2022
Il vento dell’Est è quel vento della costa orientale africana che un tempo era stato chiamato «vento di commerci», allorché sulle sue ali erano giunte dai paesi occidentali e «civilizzati» in quella terra promessa le prime navi di mercanti.
Tre stelle regalate, per premiare l’ambientazione e le descrizioni, nonché il contesto storico-sociale che mi è parso abbastanza curato, sebbene sia racchiuso in un tempo molto breve, anche se ricco di avvenimenti.
La storia è invece risultata fiacca, banale, scontata. Nella traccia si parla di ideali umani della protagonista, Hero, e ci può stare. Ma si parla anche di una sua travolgente passione per il bel tenebroso Rory, rinnegato e trafficante di schiavi.
MA DOVE?!?!?
Ecco, di questa non c’� proprio traccia. Di grazia se - nelle ultime pagine - si trova una velata riflessione sui sentimenti che ognuno prova nei confronti dell’altro a dispetto della propria determinazione e del proprio carattere.
Da come era iniziata la storia, puntavo ad un coinvolgimento maggiore; purtroppo devo dire che ho faticato un po� a finirla.
🌍 LdM: Tanzania 🇹🇿
Tre stelle regalate, per premiare l’ambientazione e le descrizioni, nonché il contesto storico-sociale che mi è parso abbastanza curato, sebbene sia racchiuso in un tempo molto breve, anche se ricco di avvenimenti.
La storia è invece risultata fiacca, banale, scontata. Nella traccia si parla di ideali umani della protagonista, Hero, e ci può stare. Ma si parla anche di una sua travolgente passione per il bel tenebroso Rory, rinnegato e trafficante di schiavi.
MA DOVE?!?!?
Ecco, di questa non c’� proprio traccia. Di grazia se - nelle ultime pagine - si trova una velata riflessione sui sentimenti che ognuno prova nei confronti dell’altro a dispetto della propria determinazione e del proprio carattere.
Da come era iniziata la storia, puntavo ad un coinvolgimento maggiore; purtroppo devo dire che ho faticato un po� a finirla.
🌍 LdM: Tanzania 🇹🇿
February 27, 2021
This was rich in detail but I found it hard to empathise with any of the main characters and I found myself surprised by some of the plot, bumping me out of the story.
November 27, 2021
"The darkness that would not show him Zorah's face presented him now with Hero's. Hero staring at him haughtily, her grey eyes scornful and her red mouth curved with distain. Hero with her face swollen and disfigured by cuts and bruises and her cropped hair looking like a wet scrubbing brush, sobbing over a few mosquito bites. Hero laughing at one of Batty's stories; smiling down at Amrah; frowning over the iniquities of the Sultan's regime; agonizing over the plight of slaves and the injustice of the world. Hero angry. Hero defiant. Hero asleep... A dozen Heros; but none of them afraid and none of them defeated."
I loved this novel. It was everything Zemindar by Valerie Fitzgerald should have been. My only issue is that despite how wonderful the romance was, there were extremely long interludes where the hero and heroine did not interact. I think they should have had more page time together, and because of this I'd view Trade Winds as a historical fiction novel with some romantic elements as opposed to a true romance novel. Despite that, I just adored Rory and Hero together. The last hundred or so pages were so tragically romantic, along with Rory's "You didn't think I was going to leave without you, did you?" closing line. It just made my heart all fluttery. So well done.
Everything about this novel was so well drawn, from the characters to the setting to the political upheaval of the time period. I felt like I was watching a movie in my head. If you like all the characters you read about to be upright and moral though, you won't enjoy this book, because nobody is a good person. Even Hero, the high-minded main character, is revealed to have some dark flaws in her character.
I'm excited to try other books by M.M. Kaye, because it seems like Trade Winds isn't even regarded as her best work, and it was amazing.
TW: non-consent (non-graphic) and racism
I loved this novel. It was everything Zemindar by Valerie Fitzgerald should have been. My only issue is that despite how wonderful the romance was, there were extremely long interludes where the hero and heroine did not interact. I think they should have had more page time together, and because of this I'd view Trade Winds as a historical fiction novel with some romantic elements as opposed to a true romance novel. Despite that, I just adored Rory and Hero together. The last hundred or so pages were so tragically romantic, along with Rory's "You didn't think I was going to leave without you, did you?" closing line. It just made my heart all fluttery. So well done.
Everything about this novel was so well drawn, from the characters to the setting to the political upheaval of the time period. I felt like I was watching a movie in my head. If you like all the characters you read about to be upright and moral though, you won't enjoy this book, because nobody is a good person. Even Hero, the high-minded main character, is revealed to have some dark flaws in her character.
I'm excited to try other books by M.M. Kaye, because it seems like Trade Winds isn't even regarded as her best work, and it was amazing.
TW: non-consent (non-graphic) and racism
September 7, 2014
Last summer I became acquainted with M.M.Kaye reader-heaven in The Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon. I got a second-hand copy of Trade Wind right afterwards, but I have been saving it up. This summer again I gave way.
We are now in a different universe, Zanzibar at around mid nineteenth-century, and our heroine is an American heiress heading there to become reunited with relatives and a man whom she may marry or not (she hasn't quite made up her mind yet). And from very early on the reader and the heroine are plunged into a whirlwind of adventure, featuring shipwrecks, epidemics, royal intrigues, abduction... This includes a point that can prove controversial, as shown in many reviews on this site. Parts dealing with an epidemic were also quite harrowing, reminding me of The Siege of Krishnapur (Farrell) and A Journal of the Plague Year (Defoe), as well as Shadow of the Moon.
In Trade Wind the protagonists, hero and heroine, are flawed people (who isn't?) who learn to overcome some of their defects, whilst also attempting to remain true to their own nature. For Hero, it is her benevolence and eagerness to change conditions in Zanzibar for the better; for Rory, it is his illegal activities that fund his love for a life of freedom, away from "civilized" Europe and industrialization. It is more relevant today than ever to read his complaints about how nature and simple ways of life were being displaced by a form of "globalization": he even states how terrible it is that all places are becoming more and more alike in this process. Bearing in mind that the book was originally published in 1963, I found this especially insightful, although I suppose the process was certainly well on its way by then.
There are many other interesting characters in this Zanzibar of Kaye's: foreign diplomats and company employees; unoccupied European ladies; a multitude of Muslim princes and princesses; servants, sailors and traffickers... My favourite character seemed taken out of a Jane Austen novel: a man deeply in love, extremely honourable and tenacious, keeping an impeccable front at all times of distress. If my ship were to encounter a storm, I only wish to be rescued by Lieutenant Daniel Larrimore!
We are now in a different universe, Zanzibar at around mid nineteenth-century, and our heroine is an American heiress heading there to become reunited with relatives and a man whom she may marry or not (she hasn't quite made up her mind yet). And from very early on the reader and the heroine are plunged into a whirlwind of adventure, featuring shipwrecks, epidemics, royal intrigues, abduction... This includes a point that can prove controversial, as shown in many reviews on this site. Parts dealing with an epidemic were also quite harrowing, reminding me of The Siege of Krishnapur (Farrell) and A Journal of the Plague Year (Defoe), as well as Shadow of the Moon.
In Trade Wind the protagonists, hero and heroine, are flawed people (who isn't?) who learn to overcome some of their defects, whilst also attempting to remain true to their own nature. For Hero, it is her benevolence and eagerness to change conditions in Zanzibar for the better; for Rory, it is his illegal activities that fund his love for a life of freedom, away from "civilized" Europe and industrialization. It is more relevant today than ever to read his complaints about how nature and simple ways of life were being displaced by a form of "globalization": he even states how terrible it is that all places are becoming more and more alike in this process. Bearing in mind that the book was originally published in 1963, I found this especially insightful, although I suppose the process was certainly well on its way by then.
There are many other interesting characters in this Zanzibar of Kaye's: foreign diplomats and company employees; unoccupied European ladies; a multitude of Muslim princes and princesses; servants, sailors and traffickers... My favourite character seemed taken out of a Jane Austen novel: a man deeply in love, extremely honourable and tenacious, keeping an impeccable front at all times of distress. If my ship were to encounter a storm, I only wish to be rescued by Lieutenant Daniel Larrimore!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2018
2.5 stars.
This book was a disappointment to me, because I waited for so long before reading it, I needed to be in the mood for a passionating historical fiction/romance. And It was, a very a good historical fiction, the description of Zanzibar and its people was perfect, I felt like I was there. My issue was with the romance, that begun in the last third of the story.
The H fell in love with the h after raping her out of revenge, and I didn't understand when, why and how the h started to feel the same. Their HEA felt bittersweet to me because I couldn't shake out of my head the family that the H had before, that he lost in a so tragic way, and put aside so easily.
I knew from the beginning that he was a slaver, but it wasn't on page, actually he mentionned that he was leaving that "business" for others less risqué, early in the story. But despite the author trying her best to redeem him in the end, I still couldn't tolerate his moral compass, I love antiH but this one just didn't do it for me.
This book was a disappointment to me, because I waited for so long before reading it, I needed to be in the mood for a passionating historical fiction/romance. And It was, a very a good historical fiction, the description of Zanzibar and its people was perfect, I felt like I was there. My issue was with the romance, that begun in the last third of the story.
The H fell in love with the h after raping her out of revenge, and I didn't understand when, why and how the h started to feel the same. Their HEA felt bittersweet to me because I couldn't shake out of my head the family that the H had before, that he lost in a so tragic way, and put aside so easily.
I knew from the beginning that he was a slaver, but it wasn't on page, actually he mentionned that he was leaving that "business" for others less risqué, early in the story. But despite the author trying her best to redeem him in the end, I still couldn't tolerate his moral compass, I love antiH but this one just didn't do it for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 30, 2017
Update after finishing listening to audio book version.
I cried over the half-caste girl's death. Strangely, it wasn't so infectious when I read this book for the first time in Chinese. Maybe it's because the translation isn't very good. Maybe it's because reading is more emotional than written words. Karen Chilton did a very good job in mimicking various accents and tones.
--
Have read Chinese version a few years ago and reread in the original in the form of audio book while commuting. Listening Kaye's work is quite amusing in a different way from reading, but I imagine this book is probably more suitable in audio form than The Far Pavilions due to the rather innocent tone of Hero.
For yeas since I last read Trade Wind, I still couldn't fathom the way Hero acts and thinks and how she ignores her surroundings insisting what she thinks right. Innocence is perpetually a myth to me.
I cried over the half-caste girl's death. Strangely, it wasn't so infectious when I read this book for the first time in Chinese. Maybe it's because the translation isn't very good. Maybe it's because reading is more emotional than written words. Karen Chilton did a very good job in mimicking various accents and tones.
--
Have read Chinese version a few years ago and reread in the original in the form of audio book while commuting. Listening Kaye's work is quite amusing in a different way from reading, but I imagine this book is probably more suitable in audio form than The Far Pavilions due to the rather innocent tone of Hero.
For yeas since I last read Trade Wind, I still couldn't fathom the way Hero acts and thinks and how she ignores her surroundings insisting what she thinks right. Innocence is perpetually a myth to me.
August 2, 2011
The best thing about this book was the colorful and descriptive history of the island at that time. I enjoyed that part of it, and much of the adventure at the beginning of the story. The love story, however, was disappointing and unsatisfying, in my opinion. Whoever heard of a moral woman ( which this main character was)strong self image ( which she had) choosing between two rapists, and marrying the one who had actually raped HER? Sorry, I don't buy it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2019
Mi hanno fatto un regalo e io non ho potuto fare a meno di sciogliermi in lacrime. Cercavo questo libro da anni! Non so dove l’abbiano ripescato ma, non appena stretto tra le mani non ho potuto fare a meno di divorarlo!
La Kaye è la regina del vecchio romance. Riesce a far innamorare il lettore di tutto ciò che con la sua abile penna descrive. La vera protagonista del libro, non è Hero Hollis, ma Zanzibar, con la sua natura incontaminata, il suo mare sempre in tempesta, la sua popolazione fatta di ogni genere di etnia, il suo debole sultano e i vari ambasciatori occidentali, ognuno convinto di poter fare del bene, invece, ossessionati da una mentalità ottusa e sessista.
La narrazione è molto lenta.
Peccato che la Kaye faccia della sua protagonista, Hero, ereditiera americana abituata a fare ciò che più desidera, una donna indomita ma anche molto stupida!
Hero per i ¾ della lettura è insopportabile!
Fa delle cose che nel 1859 sarebbero state impensabili, si mette in situazioni di cacca a causa del suo orgoglio e dei suoi pregiudizi� l’ho disprezzata, lo ammetto, e questa cosa mi ha rovinato la lettura. All'ultimo si riprende, è il tipico modus operandi di quest'autrice: protagonista ottusa che prima fa di testa sua, poi si sveglia e capisce di aver fatto una gran cavolata, ma ormai per me era troppo tardi.
Romance perfetto, delicato, che si prende il suo tempo, che non esplicita nulla ma che ti fa battere il cuore.
Libro bello, appare la protagonista.
Regalo meraviglioso! 💕
La Kaye è la regina del vecchio romance. Riesce a far innamorare il lettore di tutto ciò che con la sua abile penna descrive. La vera protagonista del libro, non è Hero Hollis, ma Zanzibar, con la sua natura incontaminata, il suo mare sempre in tempesta, la sua popolazione fatta di ogni genere di etnia, il suo debole sultano e i vari ambasciatori occidentali, ognuno convinto di poter fare del bene, invece, ossessionati da una mentalità ottusa e sessista.
La narrazione è molto lenta.
Peccato che la Kaye faccia della sua protagonista, Hero, ereditiera americana abituata a fare ciò che più desidera, una donna indomita ma anche molto stupida!
Hero per i ¾ della lettura è insopportabile!
Fa delle cose che nel 1859 sarebbero state impensabili, si mette in situazioni di cacca a causa del suo orgoglio e dei suoi pregiudizi� l’ho disprezzata, lo ammetto, e questa cosa mi ha rovinato la lettura. All'ultimo si riprende, è il tipico modus operandi di quest'autrice: protagonista ottusa che prima fa di testa sua, poi si sveglia e capisce di aver fatto una gran cavolata, ma ormai per me era troppo tardi.
Romance perfetto, delicato, che si prende il suo tempo, che non esplicita nulla ma che ti fa battere il cuore.
Libro bello, appare la protagonista.
Regalo meraviglioso! 💕
November 28, 2016
Hero Hollis is adamantly opposed to slavery. Falling overboard and finding herself rescued by a sea captain who himself participates in the slave trade, she finds that all of her zeal and attempts to reform the society of the island of Zanzibar will not only be greatly challenged but largely unsuccessful. The author presents the slavery dilemma realistically and looks at all sides of the question, examining it from the standpoint of both the slaves that are well cared for and provided for, and those that are treated so unjustly and inhumanely as to defy belief in human nature itself.
Slavery though is only one of the themes that this author addresses in this epic novel of a turbulent time period.
“It had never before seemed possible to Hero that there could be any comparison between life in the East and the west that was not greatly to the West’s advantage, but now she found herself thinking about it from the standpoint of a girl who had been born in Zanzibar and known no other country, and who would soon be exchanging her bright silks and exotic jewelry for sober dresses of heavy, dark-colored woolen cloth, and landing at the teeming, industrial port of Hamburg, where the docks would be full of merchant ships and the sky heavy with smoke from factory chimneys, and where there would be poverty, drunkenness and crime as well as gas-lamps and opera-houses and the opulent mansions of the rich.�
Although not greatly admiring the name of the heroine (Hero Athena? I wish the author had chosen something else...), on the whole I was pulling for her throughout the book. As her naiveté and generously pure motives were balanced by unforeseen circumstances and complications, Hero painfully matures and finds herself questioning even her own beliefs in the nobility of human nature (something that eventually happens to just about everyone, as we face the many challenges life has to offer!) Hero comes to the place where she can look back realistically and objectively, and the reader cannot but sympathise with her plight. Although vastly different in both plot and characterization, Hero's 'coming-of-age' story reminded me somewhat of the character of Austen’s “Emma", when the 'light-bulb' comes on.
M.M. Kaye is a talented writer, able to put flesh and blood into her characters. Although somewhat predictable, her writing reflects the popular romantic style for that time period. The insipid Victorian-ish reactions of Hero's Aunt Abby and her daughter, Cressy, to various situations in the novel are sometimes a bit overdone, but not a surprise to any reader of Regency-era novels. However the lush descriptions of Zanzibar and the historical aspect of the novel made this for an enthralling read and I simply could not pick up anything else until I came to the ending.
The author does disclose which events are true and which are fictional at the end of the book, which helps to place the events of the story and make it real for and the reader.
Rory Frost, Hero's rescuer, remains (at least in my mind), an enigma. I never did come to a full appreciation of this complex character. The author does a good job of explaining his background and subsequent motivations, but for me, the explanation failed to justify his actions.
“Against the background of the dark a score of disconnected incidents from his past life rose up before him, and it was as though, standing on the crest of a ridge, he turned to look back at a road he had traveled along. A long road that dipped into dark valleys and climbed out again on plateaus and hill crests, but that seen from this vantage point gave the appearance of being a joyous and unbroken line.
He knew that the continuity of that line was an illusion, and that the valleys were there, for he had plodded through them. But now they lay below the level of his vision and were unimportant, and it was only the mountain tops that he saw, joined together by distance and bathed in retrospective sunlight. Life might have dealt him an indifferent hand but he had played it recklessly and to his own advantage...�
If you are looking for an escapist read, it’s all here. Hidden treasure. Plots and counter-plots. Danger, romance, the English gentlemen soldier contrasted with the dastardly desperado, piracy, rescues, twists and turns, surprises, revelations, and intrigues. I was not at all familiar with the island of Zanzibar and the author cleverly brings this mysterious island and culture to life for the reader. An unforgettable story, this is a book I will not soon forget. Having read "The Far Pavilions" years ago, I knew M.M. Kaye had the ability to spin a long, involved historical epic that would hold my interest, and I was not disappointed.
May 30, 2021
The thing about MM Kaye is the way she describes action or events. It is as hair raising or horrific as if one were there. The overboard scene for instance. I won’t give spoilers.
I started with disliking the hero but by the time I got to his backstory I was rooting for him and felt terrible every time he suffered. The heroine remains a bit irritating with her do gooding till the end.
That fact the author describes of a taint in the air if there was a cargo hold full of slaves some of them dead. It must have been 100% true.
We lived on the highway towards Agra for two years. The trucks carrying cattle used to pass for the leather industry and probably the meat industry. And I can tell you.. the smell was unbearable fifty feet away.
The details all suggest that author was quite close to those times herself and might have heard stuff from the old timers beside her own research.
The book picks up pace and by the last hundred pages is unputdownable.
I would definitely recommend that one should push aside rights and wrongs and read it without judgement. It’s a good story.
Sometimes when the author writes about the inner world of her characters, one is amazed at how one can identify with some of their thinking.
Very well written.
At the end she followed the trope of the hero alone and outside the pale, same as in Shadow of the Moon.
It is interesting to see the way the authors mind works. To me as a writer myself.
I started with disliking the hero but by the time I got to his backstory I was rooting for him and felt terrible every time he suffered. The heroine remains a bit irritating with her do gooding till the end.
That fact the author describes of a taint in the air if there was a cargo hold full of slaves some of them dead. It must have been 100% true.
We lived on the highway towards Agra for two years. The trucks carrying cattle used to pass for the leather industry and probably the meat industry. And I can tell you.. the smell was unbearable fifty feet away.
The details all suggest that author was quite close to those times herself and might have heard stuff from the old timers beside her own research.
The book picks up pace and by the last hundred pages is unputdownable.
I would definitely recommend that one should push aside rights and wrongs and read it without judgement. It’s a good story.
Sometimes when the author writes about the inner world of her characters, one is amazed at how one can identify with some of their thinking.
Very well written.
At the end she followed the trope of the hero alone and outside the pale, same as in Shadow of the Moon.
It is interesting to see the way the authors mind works. To me as a writer myself.
June 3, 2010
Starting off on a strong note, I found it virtually impossible to put down. The plot itself is captivating, while the characters are brought right off the page.
Hero (ironically named) is very easy to relate to. Who knew Therese was such a skunk? When Clayton's true character was revealed by Rory, I was quite shocked. Here I was thinking Clay loved Hero (and only Hero)...tsk tsk tsk. Maybe I'm just too trusting of characters in books such as this, but shame on him.
This book had four major "parts" to it.
1)Hero's arrival to Zanzibar, and her first meeting Rory.
My rating: 10/10.
2)The rebellion of Bagrash.
My rating: 9.5/10.
3)The attack of the Gulf pirates, Zorah's death, and Hero's kidnapping.
My rating: 10/10.
4) Rory's time in jail, the cholera epidemic
My rating: 10000000/10.
This is truly one of those books that you physically and mentally, can't put down. A must read for everyone. The ending was quite satisfying. Some characters had a true change of heart, while others came back to reality. Pure brilliance.
Hero (ironically named) is very easy to relate to. Who knew Therese was such a skunk? When Clayton's true character was revealed by Rory, I was quite shocked. Here I was thinking Clay loved Hero (and only Hero)...tsk tsk tsk. Maybe I'm just too trusting of characters in books such as this, but shame on him.
This book had four major "parts" to it.
1)Hero's arrival to Zanzibar, and her first meeting Rory.
My rating: 10/10.
2)The rebellion of Bagrash.
My rating: 9.5/10.
3)The attack of the Gulf pirates, Zorah's death, and Hero's kidnapping.
My rating: 10/10.
4) Rory's time in jail, the cholera epidemic
My rating: 10000000/10.
This is truly one of those books that you physically and mentally, can't put down. A must read for everyone. The ending was quite satisfying. Some characters had a true change of heart, while others came back to reality. Pure brilliance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2016
This is one of those books where you feel like giving the heroine a real good smack! In fact nearly all the women in this historical romance are portrayed as silly, gullible and incapable of rational thought processes. Having said that, it's a book full of romance and exotic locations, and the author has incorporated interesting historical events. The attitudes to slavery are brutal and disturbing but representative of the age.
I think that if I had read this in my late teens or early twenties I would have been entranced - nowadays I'm a little harder to dazzle but it was still a good read and I would rate it 3.5 stars.
I think that if I had read this in my late teens or early twenties I would have been entranced - nowadays I'm a little harder to dazzle but it was still a good read and I would rate it 3.5 stars.
July 6, 2016
Could have been an ok book IF IT WASN'T FOR MAKING THE MAIN LOVE INTEREST A RAPIST. I'm sorry but no, I can't get past that. I don't care if he claimed he loved her all along, he raped her. I just could not get on board with this. Did not finish.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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