THE ISLAND KING

Giordano’s historical series installment charts the unhappy Sharpe marriage as it plays out under the palm trees of the Bahamas.

This second book of the author’s Strange Eden series opens in 1792, on the shores of colonial Nassau. Eliza Sharpe is struggling in an unhappy marriage to well-to-do soldier and nobleman Charles Sharpe, and her union is about to get even more complicated. Although Eliza tries to hide it—from herself as much as anyone else—it becomes obvious, after Charles leaves town on business for the crown, that she’s pregnant. What would be a blessing for most couples feels more like a curse for Eliza, because the child isn’t Charles’ but is, in fact, the product of her love affair with Jean Charles de Longchamp, a spy whom Charles knew well and who was executed not long ago. Mercifully, Charles is away during most of Eliza’s pregnancy. In his absence, Eliza begins to feel as if her baby is the last meaningful connection to her slain lover. However, she’s promised Cleo, an enslaved woman in her home, that she’ll secretly give the baby to her; that way, Eliza can make sure the marital fallout is as minimal as possible. The women hope the child will be born before Charles returns to Nassau, but instead Charles arrives home at the worst possible moment for everyone: mere minutes after Eliza gives birth.

Over the course of Giordano’s novel, readers learn that more is roiling beneath the surface of the Sharpes’ lives than may initially appear. Cleo is a practitioner of Obeah healing and spellcasting, and she’s been helping and protecting Charles since he was a small boy. Eliza has been having strange, vivid dreams that clue her into key events in her husband’s life before he ever met her—and this ability, too, is related to Cleo, whose ultimate aims remain mysterious. The novel, set among the glistening vistas of the Caribbean, offers readers an unpredictable story that achieves an admirable balance of beauty and horror. The backdrop is well rendered throughout: “The calm, glassy surface of the water vanished, and the sea grew more chilly as waves disturbed it. The ocean appeared rough, as if gripped by an invisible wintery hand.” The enslaved people’s interactions with Eliza and Charles, however, seem courteous and friendly to the point that readers will find the depictions uncomfortable: “[Eliza] had never heard Cleo raise her voice before. It was not a slave’s place to act in such a way. But Cleo was so much more than a lowly servant, and they both understood this fact.” In addition, some of the character descriptions feel cliched: “Eliza was fiery and beautiful, maddeningly beautiful. So much so that she herself didn’t quite realize it.” Still, readers learn far more about Eliza, Charles, and Cleo from the choices they make than from their outward appearances, which many will find satisfying in the long run.

A complex and often compelling tale of domestic and spiritual struggle in the Caribbean.