Islanders Paperback – 18 February 1993

What a novel. What a forgotten voice. Great novel and will be of special interest to those interested in women writers.

If you have an interest in feminist fiction you really should read this amazing book ....it is incredible to me that a book written in the early 1900s and set even earlier could deal so courageously and forthrightly with feminism.... I guess I thought the feminist movement started in the sixties but if you read this book you will see that exploration of feminist thought and women's experience is much older....but most importantly this is just a great page turning story about a woman who was made to spend her life in service to others but couldn't be made to give up her sense of self.

"A Woman of the 19th century" (a study in misery)This book catalogued the events which were interesting enough in the life of a woman during the 19th century. The eventsillustrated what a physical and mental effort it was to survive on the farm described and the wonderful endurance of the maincharacter of the novel and that she enjoyed hard work and had lots of courage.It illustrated her spirit of self-sacrifice for the well-being of her loved ones : her Father, her Mother , not to mention her in-laws as well as her own spirit of survival. The book is thoroughly bleak and depressing though because there was no love or affectionfrom any of her male relatives even though she didn't try to seek it out. She did her duty and kept things going while the menhunted for California gold . . . There was nearly no niceness or sweetness from the womeneither. Her existence was grey and sterile for her and yet she did what was expected of her without a murmur. . .She reached old age and more or less died from being worn out. She was a treasure for her family but they didn't treat her fairlyand failed her in every way imaginable. Her fiancee went looking for gold and never returned to her but tried to make provisions for herand even that, her nearest family took away from her . . . (through male greed and dishonesty as was well pointed out)The book was very much of a feminist document and made you dislike the male characters in it. There was one generous kindperson or two who were male but they were weak either in health or character. . . the town was full of small- minded ignorant people so there were no light points in the book . .. too big a dose of reality for my taste and somehow not satisfying even at the end! Good research for a student who wants to doa paper to document the history of a miserable human being who is a woman from the 19th century. . .