Publisher: 25th June 2020 by Random House UK, Transworld Publishers Black Swan
Pages: 368 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: historical fiction, women’s fiction, mystery
My Rating: 4 cups
Synopsis:
Set in the exotic city of Havana on the cusp of revolution, an English woman discovers mystery, romance and scandal in the atmospheric new novel by Rachel Rhys for fans of DINAH JEFFRIES, LUCINDA RILEY and SANTA MONTEFIORE
1957: Iris Bailey is bored to death of working in the typing pool and living with her parents in Hemel Hempstead. A gifted portraitist with a talent for sketching party guests, she dreams of becoming an artist. So she can’t believe her luck when socialite Nell Hardman invites her to Havana to draw at the wedding of her Hollywood director father.
Far from home, she quickly realizes the cocktails, tropical scents and azure skies mask a darker reality. As Cuba teeters on the edge of revolution and Iris’s heart melts for troubled photographer Joe, she discovers someone in the charismatic Hardman family is hiding a terrible secret. Can she uncover the ugly truth behind the glamour and the dazzle before all their lives are torn apart?
My Thoughts
Island of Secrets proved to be a most engaging read. Set in pre-Revolutionist Cuba in the 1950s, I was intrigued to see this time and place through the eyes of Iris, an English secretary. How would she view the American glamour in this playground for the rich and famous. Include a murder mystery and it proved a highly entertaining read.
‘... if the Cuban government was overturned tomorrow - which it won’t be, by the way, the military will never allow it - and Fidel Castro swept in and declared himself President, nothing would change for people like us. Havana runs on American dollars. No one would be fool enough to mess around with that. Don’t you worry.’
Iris certainly walks in blind to this situation but is desperate to escape her lacklustre life in England. Firstly Rachel does a wonderful job of placing her readers in a lush and tropical environment - you get a feel for everything from the climate and humidity, to Cuban society on the cusp of something big.
‘She does not want to be the person she is in England. Here in Cuba, where the colours sing and the heat burns and there are tiny, perfectly formed birds that dazzle in the sunlight, and Hardmans who live as they please and go where they like in the knowledge there is nowhere in the world their money won’t admit them ... here she sees for the first time how confined her life has been.’
It proved to be the perfect location for a suspenseful tale full of intrigue. There is so much simmering tension between the assortment of characters - who is friend and who is foe? Behind all the glitz and glamour lies scandal and corruption and a murder mystery that will keep you guessing to the very end. Rachel has done a superb job with her cast of characters who are all so complex with seemingly everyone having something to hide.
Overall this is a tale with loads of atmosphere from its tropical location and a star studded cast in the glamour filled 1950s. Spend some time in the exotic location of Havana and watch the story and characters unravel to slowly reveal their secrets.
‘If only , she thinks. If only I could capture this moment in a bottle and stopper up the top, and take it home with me like an exquisite perfume that I could dab on my wrists whenever life gets dull and gloomy.’
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
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