Book Review: Island Queen

Talia Whyte Books Black Writers Matter, Winter Institute

I don’t read a lot of fiction, but when I do, I prefer historical fiction.  I like this genre because it is based on real people and events.  Island Queen follows the true story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a Black woman from the West Indian island of Montserrat during the 18th century who bought herself and her family freedom from slavery and became one of the richest and most powerful landowners in the Caribbean.

I was initially attracted to the book because I am interested in learning more about slavery in the Caribbean and books that are not centered on Black trauma.  Yes, slavery itself was a traumatic experience for Black people. Thomas goes through some horrific events throughout her life, including being raped twice by her white owner/stepbrother. But she was able to rise from these horrors and build a successful life for herself.

Clocking in at nearly 600 pages and through many decades, Island Queen is not only a sweeping epic about Thomas’s life but also the lives of free women of color at that time who were both enterprising in their own right. Thomas earned enough money during her enslavement to free herself, her mother, and her sister and build a housekeeping and hotelling business.

However, most of the book focuses on Thomas’s many romantic relationships with wealthy white baby daddies.  She had ten children with at least three men during her life. Readers might think Island Queen is an epic “romance” novel.  There is a huge market for romance novels.  However, I personally have a hard time with any depictions showing a Black woman and a white man during slavery as “romantic.”  Most Black women during slavery – both enslaved and free – were not in consensual relationships with white men.  Many readers might come away from this book and think of Thomas as a “bed wench.” But as the author notes in the epilogue, her choice of men had less to do with race and more to do with the power and influence white men had to help her grow her business and protect her family.

With that said, I wish the author spent more time discussing how Thomas specifically ran her businesses.  She eventually became a slaveowner solely to protect other enslaved people from the horrors she suffered.  I would have like to have seen how she interacted with her slaves.

Also, the book is too long! I don’t think it needs to be 600 pages.  The book could have easily have been edited down to under 400 pages, and it still would have been effective in telling the story.  I felt like there were whole chapters that could have been rewritten in two or three sentences.  Cutting down the pages would have been most useful in the last quarter of the book because Thomas had ten children and their numerous spouses, children, and grandchildren, whose names were hard to keep up with.  I only wished the editor would have put a diagram of the family tree in the book for reference because I became confused about who was who!

However, the book being 600 pages doesn’t take away from the quality writing.  I prefer to read books that concise and to the point.  However, some readers might not mind the book’s length.  Island Queen is also full of drama and mess!  I can totally see a Shondaland adaptation of this book soon.

This book comes out at the beginning of the summer season.  This is a great read for people who are maybe vaccinated and now have the freedom to go away on a long summer vacation, and they can only take one engaging book with them.  This book will definitely keep you entertained.

One other recommendation: instead of getting the 600-page hardcover book, get the e-book!

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley.  Published by William Morrow on July 6, 2021.  Buy the book here.