Title: Island of the Swans
By: Ciji Ware
Pages: 592
Product ISBN: 9781402222689
Publication Date: February 2010
ABOUT THE BOOK
Re-issued in its original full length, this acclaimed and bestselling romantic historical novel by award-winning author Ciji Ware tells the true story of passionate and flamboyant Jane Maxwell, the 4th Duchess of Gordon (1749-1812). In love since childhood with Thomas Fraser, when she hears that he’s been killed in America, she marries the Duke of Gordon with disastrous results. But Fraser, very much alive, returns to England to claim her love.
In addition to telling a heart-wrenching love story, Island of the Swans also paints a fascinating portrait of a powerful land controversial woman and the tumultuous era in which she lived. Patroness of poet Robert Burns, advisor to King George, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Jane Maxwell was a towering figure in her own time and is an unforgettable heroine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ciji Ware has been an Emmy-award winning television producer, reporter, writer, and radio host. A Harvard graduate, she has written numerous historical and romance novels as well as non-fiction. When she’s not writing, Ciji is a Scottish history and dancing aficionado. She lives with her husband in San Francisco.
MY THOUGHTS
It has been months since I read this book. I read it at a time when I could totally relate to the story. The story line touched me deeply. So deeply and so closely, in fact, that I couldn’t gather what I was feeling and put them into words. Besides, I was also, at the time, setting up another domain and trying to decide on the best way to make money online. Well after a few months things are finally settling down. Both my blogging and the personal stuff that was keeping me up late at the beginning of this year have reached a comfortable stage and I am again able to exhale. So I picked up this book again a couple of weeks ago and read through it a second time.
This is another book about missed chances and soul rending loves. It’s about loving someone to your core and not being able to let go or forget. It’s also about living life as it finds you and making the most of what you have at that moment. It’s about hope that maybe if you keep doing the right thing something will eventually turn your way.
This book is also about sweeping sagas and history all woven into the romance that spans an ocean and a couple of continents. There was not a character in this book that I didn’t like but I loved Jane Maxwell and Thomas Fraser the most. To be able to hold on to a love you had; to be able to keep that love burning inside you while going through the paths in front of you. It just touched me to the core.
[...] Island of the Swans refers to a small island inhabited by swans on the estate of a duke. The story revolves around two lovers who fell in love when they were young but were separated from each other by fate and life. They both go on with their lives but always, buried within them, they kept the love they have for each other. They run into into each other several times after their separation and each time their love remains palpable. But they now have obligations and family to take care of. They can’t just drop everything and everyone to be with each other. It’s a heartbreaking story but it is also not without hope. The ending is a bit surprising and you wish for so much more for them, but ultimately love prevails and in the end that is all that matters. [...]