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This is a pretty interesting story - it is beautifully written and just chock full of breathtaking descriptions of living in the countryside. The story is separated into five sections, each named after the first five books of the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This added a layer of religious symbolism to the story that I appreciated.

I was dying to find out what exactly had happened to Madeline for her to end up with Amnesia and so desperately wanted to reach the conclusion of the story; however, I did find certain parts to be a bit too slow paced for me - but that may not be an issue for other people who like to relish rich descriptions of the environment and character observations. But oh my, when the conclusion of the story came it was not for readers faint of heart. I positively felt sick.

I also like an explained back-story and why Madeline's family moved to 'The Island' or where indeed 'The Island' was located was never explained. Nor was it explained where they came from and why they moved there. It was all a bit vague and I didn't really understand what the point of it all was. This may have been purposefully done by the author in order to be as in the dark and confused as Madeline was as a child, but it maddened me.

Pros
Beautifully written and poignantly structured
Page turner
Exploration of mental health issues

Cons
A bit too slow paced in parts
Lack of description of why Madeline's family moved to 'the farm' on 'the island' - or where they had come from
( )

The story of Madeline, who has been a patient at a mental health facility for 20 years, since she was 14. She has no memories of the hours leading up to her "breakdown", and the new doctor, Dr Lucas, diagnoses dissociative amnesia and uses hypnotherapy and later drugs to recover those memories. The novel shifts continually between the infirmary in the present day and a twelve month period leading up to the crisis, during which Madeline and her parents move to "the island" to evangelise its inhabitants, buy a farm and struggle generally.

On the plus side: beautiful writing, although there were constant (too many?) references to light and nature/creation. I found the parallel time frames worked well - switching from one place of misery to a different one every chapter or so was a relief in a strange way.

But... while "The Professor of Poetry" is one of my favourite books, I really didn't like this one. The 13 year old Madeline seemed wrong for her age somehow - her mother was angry with her for crossing the road alone on a small island after they had moved from a city...? She seemed naive for her age in a way that homeschooled children I suppose can be, but she only stopped going to school when the family moved to the island. Then she was hospitalized and seems to have existed in a more or less hazy state for 20 years, but somehow has acquired a knowledge of medieval mystics and an at times clear-sighted, cynical view on life - I thought she slept all the time and barely got out of bed??

I find it hard to accept Dr Lucas could have been so cavalier with the new treatments he imposed on his patients and that there was no oversight of his "care" of them. Madeline and her parents seem to exist completely in isolation - didn't any aunts, uncles or cousins or public health nurses or overseers of homeschooled children ever check up on them? I know that Madeline describes (in her older world-weary voice) her father's particular theology as unique to him, but I didn't find it very convincing. There was a lot of mental ill-health here and not so much belief/religion. They never went to church and now and then they would go out preaching as if the author felt a need to remind us of how devout they were, but for chapters at a time Madeline just did her thing and communed with God in nature and, although there were the bible readings every evening it never seemed to me that her father's heart was really in it.

The ending was sickening; not so much the big reveal of the cause of Madeline's amnesia, but the fate of Dr Lucas and the adult Madeline. Sickening and also a bit melodramatic and unlikely and then very very sad. However, scope for one last "light" reference. ( )