ISOLA

 

ISOLA 

By Allegra Goodman

My dear friend Mary chose Isola by Allegra Goodman for our next book club selection.  Even though I am no longer able to attend the gatherings, I still love reading the books my friends choose.  I have always believed a person reveals a little of themselves through the stories they’re drawn to…and Mary, a doctor, is clearly unafraid of deep, intense reads with shocking truths.  This book is exactly that. 

Before even starting, I was captivated by the cover. I imagined it as the edge of the island where Marguerite is abandoned…alone, exposed, and forced to survive.

When Mary texted the title, I immediately looked it up and read the Prologue. The opening line stopped me, “I still dream of birds. I watch them circle, dive into rough waves, and fly up to the sun.  I call to them but hear no answer. Alone, I stand on a stone island.”  That was it. I texted her back with, I still dream of birds…Immediately downloads book!

I love birds…what can I say? 

This novel is a powerful and often shocking story, made even more compelling by its roots in true history. Through the eyes of Marguerite de la Rocque, we witness a journey that redefines what it means to be a woman of worth, and the difference between simply having a life and truly living one.

Marguerite begins as a vulnerable heiress in sixteenth-century France, left in precarious circumstances after her father’s death. Her guardian, driven by greed, exploits her fortune for his own ambitions. When she is taken on a voyage to New France, she falls in love with his secretary…a decision that leads to a brutal act of revenge. She, her lover, and a loyal servant are abandoned on a desolate island.

I’ll admit, the story starts slowly. But once Marguerite reaches the island, I was completely drawn in. Her life there is both horrifying and mesmerizing.

There are moments in this book that are almost unbearable to read. At times, I found myself stunned…mouth literally open. One scene in particular stayed with me: her awakening as she watches a bear devour her dead lover… and then, despite never having fired a gun, she kills the bear herself. In that moment, you can feel her spirit shift…from a frightened young woman into a fierce survivor.

Isolation, introspection, resilience, transformation…this story holds all of it. And that transformation is profound.

The title, Isola…what did it mean?  I looked it up because it felt meaningful. Isola…Italian for “island.” But broken down, it becomes “I sola”…I alone. It reflects not only her physical isolation, but her emotional and spiritual solitude. What does it mean to be completely alone, with no hope of rescue?

This is an intense true story of survival and transformation. This is a beautiful story of redemption and faith.

I loved this paragraph:

“In my experience, God’s work was unexpected. His grace required interpreting. Wild thoughts, but I was wild. Ideas unbecoming, but what had I become? I, myself, was now an island, solitary. Brambles and five-petalled flowers were my garden. Rocks my furniture. Ocean waves my lessons. Sadness overwhelmed me and sank back. Then, like the tide, joy crept in on me again.”

It’s gritty. It’s beautiful. It’s haunting.

And it leaves you with a question that lingers long after the final page:
What truly makes a woman a woman of worth?

It isn’t a simple answer. 

It isn’t wealth…it isn’t circumstance, but perhaps it is what a woman endures, what she becomes, and who she is when stripped of everything else. Carved through survival, shaped by solitude, and revealed in who she becomes when she stands alone.

Isola.