Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

 

Have you ever learned about a new (to you) figure in history that is inspiring?

Dorothy Kirwan was born enslaved in Montserrat in the Caribbean to an enslaved woman and white plantation owner father in 1756.  She spent long years working and saving until she was finally able to buy her and her family’s freedom.  Once free, Kirwan built an empire of her own as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and landowner.  Along the way she experienced great love and great loss.  She had many children and she worked to ensure that they and her grandchildren received a great education in Great Britain. 

Dorothy Kirwan Thomas lived a fascinating life and I loved learning about her in this wonderful historical fiction novel.  Her life at times reminded of the fictional Amber in Forever Amber or fictional Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair.  She had a lot of strength of character and was able to work hard and put everything on the line to move herself up and help her family.  The story was epic, and I couldn’t it down reading it over a weekend of camping.

My favorite part was reading in the afterword that Island Queen had an Austen connection.  Author Vanessa Riley was reading the unfinished Jane Austen novel, Sanditon, and discovered the character of Miss Lambe who is described as a half mulatto heiress from the West Indies.  Riley wondered, “was this character a creature derived from a progressive author’s creativity or was his character based on persons of color that Austen learned about or saw or interacted with in her community?”  Riley went on a ten-year quest for the answer and discovered that both were true.  She found the true history of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas and other black women who were powerful women in that time.  I have been fascinated by this question as well also from Sanditon and the movie Belle.  I felt like my questions were finally answered!

Favorite Quotes:

“No woman needed a man who wasn’t worthy of her heart.”

“I was an impressionable girl who needed a hero.  I’m my own savior now.”

“No man in my life, none had supported me, not like Thomas.  He wasn’t threatened by my dreams or my past.  I should assure him of my heart and say to him the three words he said easily.”

“Broken glass still sparkles when the light hits it.  It might even look like diamonds or chandeliers’ jewels.  It’s still ruined and in need of repair.  Time will fix it, if you live free.”

“What was the use of building a legacy if the ones who deserved the fruit never lived long enough for the harvest?”

Overall, Island Queen is a historical fiction novel that brings the riveting story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas to life.

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you!