From the Bookshelf of Retro Reads…

Trade Wind

M.M. Kaye

Start date: November 15, 2014

Finish date: December 15, 2014

Discussion leader: Hana

Why we're reading this: Hannah rates it Five Stars and says: "It combines beautiful writing with in-depth factual information abo…more
[close] Hannah rates it Five Stars and says: "It combines beautiful writing with in-depth factual information about the history and island of Zanzibar of the mid-1800's...Kaye's writing is both lyrical and strong; painting word pictures, expressing the emotions of the characters and triggering an emotional response in the reader. The romance is secondary to the story, but wow, what a romance Kaye delivers."

Content warning: Zanzibar has a long, often brutal, colonial history stretching back centuries (including and predating the British). Kaye does not shrink from depicting the dark side of the Island's history, which includes its role as a center for slave trading. Dorcas rates it Five Stars and PG-13 for some violence and language and an off-screen <spoiler>rape</spoiler>.

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Oct 06, 2014 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, your-mileage-may-vary, made-me-think, i-own

The island of Zanzibar, off the eastern coast of Africa. The late 1850s.
description

Hero Hollis, an orphaned young American woman with a large fortune, an overabundance of self-confidence and a determination to rid the world of all its evils, sails to Zanzibar to join her relatives for an extended stay. This is the heyday of the slave trade in Africa, and Zanzibar is at the center of the slave trade. Hero is washed overboard in a storm and, luckily, is picked up by Captain Rory Frost, whose ship smuggles ...more

90 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2009 Hannah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, romances, 2014-reads, historicals, 2013-reads, re-read

Trade Wind is, bar none, my favorite book...period.

I first read it when I was 16 years old, and now I'm 53. Even after 15+ readings (I've lost count), I still love it. I always hesitate to recommend it to friends, because it's almost like my baby--I don't want people to think it's ugly.

It combines beautiful writing with in-depth factual information about the history and island of Zanzibar of the mid-1800's. The plot is well maintained throughout the book. Kaye's writing is both lyrical and stro ...more

66 likes · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2008 Misfit rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, historical-romance, can-you-make-that-font-any-smaller

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is the story of Hero Athena Hollis, an extremely independent woman of the 19th century, vehemently opposed to slavery and all of society's injustices and determined to use her wealth to stamp them out. After Hero's father dies, she is invited to join her family in Zanzibar where her uncle is serving as the American Counsel. Hero's family always expected that she would marry her aunt's son by a first marriage, even though she is not sure she's in love with him.

While on voyage to Zanzibar du This is the story of Hero Athena Hollis, an extremely independent woman of the 19th century, vehemently opposed to slavery and all of society's injustices and determined to use her wealth to stamp them out. After Hero's father dies, she is invited to join her family in Zanzibar where her uncle is serving as the American Counsel. Hero's family always expected that she would marry her aunt's son by a first marriage, even though she is not sure she's in love with him.

While on voyage to Zanzibar during a huge storm, Hero is washed off the boat deck and presumed dead. However, another ship captained by the infamous slave trader Rory Frost pulls up their rigging out of the sea and finds a half drowned, bruised and battered Hero. Since Hero is such a bruised mess from her ordeal, Rory has no idea what a beauty she is until sometime after she has been returned to her family. To say more of the story than this would be revealing the entire plot, which I don't like to do.

M.M. Kaye's knowledge of the Far East shines through, as it does in all her books. She stays as historically accurate as she can, and pulls no punches when describing the customs of the Island, the slave trade, the cholera epidemic and more. And once again, Kaye is able through her books to remind us that the west and east are two different and completely disparate cultures and will never see eye to eye. One other lesson brought to home in this story is when Hero's eyes are opened to the fact that for all her good intentions, going barging in to another culture you know nothing about and trying to change them "for the better" to the more "civilized culture" is inherently wrong, and one should look to correct what is one own's back yard first before trying to change the world.

This was a wonderful tale and I had a hard time putting it down. Out of print, but readily available at my county library.

*******SPOILERS DISCUSSED****
I see some of the other reviewers on Amazon were distressed by the rape scene(s) towards the end of the book. While I do not condone rape under any circumstance, one must remember this was 19th century, in a remote island off the east coast of Africa, during a very turbulent time in that island's history. Kaye set the plot well leading up to the rape and Rory's actions, while not fully justified, did fit in with the story line. There were no graphic descriptions; everything was left to the reader's imagination, with no gratuitous sex at all. Rory showed remorse the next day and while those same reviewers felt that the second night was a rape, I did not get that at all. I was surprised at the vehemence of those reviewers who reacted so strongly and I'm glad I reserved judgment and read the book for myself. It's funny how so many of our soap opera heroes began as rapists after attacking the woman who would eventually become his true love and redeemed by Hollywood to become yet another super couple, yet people found this rape to be highly offensive. I don't get it. ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Aug 29, 2014 Hana rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, far-away-places, seafaring-flight, africa, 2014-reads, romance

Well, the best part was reading it with some great friends. Now, as for the book....I wavered between two and four stars from one chapter to the next so I’ll go for a final rating of three.

On the plus side: the wonderfully evocative descriptions of Zanzibar—beautiful and terrible—and fascinating historical details that seem very well-researched. While none of the main characters were particularly likable all had interesting though not completely believable character arcs. There were some thought ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Jan 28, 2017 Christine PNW rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: vintage-women

I have been sick for a couple of days, and I really should've been sleeping last night, instead of finishing this book. But, instead, I was finishing this book.

I am not even sure where to begin with the writing process here. This book is a mass of contradictions: problematic, beautiful, shocking, deplorable, and incredibly compelling. The characters, even more so, with no one character being all good or all bad, even while they are doing things that are horrifying.

This book is about the slave ...more

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Nov 21, 2014 Misfit rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Just as awesome the second time around.

12 likes · Like · see review

Aug 29, 2014 Jaima rated it really liked it

Group read November 2014.
Trade Wind is panoramic historical romance, in the style of M.M. Kaye’s others, Shadow of the Moon and Far Pavilions, both of which I read years ago, before Amazon and Goodreads made it possible for me to find more of her books. Trade Wind is still out of print, but I was able to obtain a used paperback copy. Despite the yellowing pages and the cheesy cover, it was easy to sink into this story—it’s vivid, sensory writing, delivering the harsh and sometimes absurd histor Group read November 2014.
Trade Wind is panoramic historical romance, in the style of M.M. Kaye’s others, Shadow of the Moon and Far Pavilions, both of which I read years ago, before Amazon and Goodreads made it possible for me to find more of her books. Trade Wind is still out of print, but I was able to obtain a used paperback copy. Despite the yellowing pages and the cheesy cover, it was easy to sink into this story—it’s vivid, sensory writing, delivering the harsh and sometimes absurd historical realities with deadpan ease.
Because it’s Kaye, the story begins before the heroine’s birth, the aptly named Hero Hollis. The formative years are a little thick (view spoiler) But it didn’t take too long before the redoubtable Hero (prissy, determined, and not entirely likeable) was dumped into the ocean and into the hero, Captain Emory Frost’s lap. Which was, I must say, entirely satisfying.
It's a match-up of an unprincipled rogue and a high-minded, 'I know best' girl with a judgement complex, but it gets more complicated than that.
I like a romance that isn’t all about romance—where there are real, important, gut clenching things happening, and Trade Wind is certainly that. Kaye doesn’t flinch from describing the horrors of the slave trade, or sickening realities—that freed slaves often ended up being worse off because they couldn’t find work, or they ended up being recaptured and sold again.
The principals, Hero and Rory, spar quite wonderfully, but it’s not merely the kind of sly bantering I associate with romance. (There's some great banter, but there's some rip-roaring argument too). Rory and Hero are battling over real, terrifying things: Rory’s business as a slave trader (Yep, you got that right), Hero’s attempt to aid rebels in overthrowing the Sultan of Zanzibar, which leads to fighting and many deaths, arms dealing, revenge, rape, epidemic cholera, neglect, and murder. It makes issues of class or insta-dislike seem…oh, just a little trite.
It’s a romance, but it isn’t. The historical ‘adventure’ is a huge part of the story, but, like Shadow of the Moon and the Far Pavilions, it’s a story about two people who survive as the world they know burns, singeing away everything (almost) but their love for each other. And yet, it isn’t that simple. Rory and Hero both do as much harm as good, to their world and to each other. (view spoiler)But, (and this book is full of buts) she and Rory do change each other, and for the better.
Rory leaves the slave trade, and though I doubt he’ll ever be squeaky clean, he is reconciled to a life as Hero’s consort on her campaigns of good works. Together, they steady each other, and actually do a great deal of good, and, we are led to believe, will continue to do so. He tempers her desperate idealism, and she redirects his skill. Or something like that. Misguided broadsword-philanthropy is a disaster, but Hero has realized she can succeed on a smaller, more personal scale.
(view spoiler).
In fact, the redemptive backfilling at the end, while very satisfying does seem a little…well, a little much maybe, though I enjoyed every bit of it. (view spoiler)It seemed a little Shakespearean, that just about everyone ended up getting married, except Clay, who deserves to be kicked around the world. Twice.
I expected a ripping yarn and was not disappointed, though moral ambiguities certainly abound. However, I enjoyed the book so much I’d be a hypocrite if I gave it less than 4 stars. If M.M. Kaye had written more of these doorstoppers, I’d be greedily thumbing through them too. ...more

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Nov 16, 2014 Amy Chichi Hsiao rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

Update after finishing listening to audio book version.

I cried over the half-caste girl's death. Strangely, it wasn't so infectious when I read this book for the first time in Chinese. Maybe it's because the translation isn't very good. Maybe it's because reading is more emotional than written words. Karen Chilton did a very good job in mimicking various accents and tones.

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Have read Chinese version a few years ago and reread in the original in the form of audio book while commuting. Listening K ...more

4 likes · Like · see review