Review: Gillian Bradshaw's Island of Ghosts
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by Gillian Bradshaw
St. Martin's Press; August 1998
ISBN: 0312864396
319 Pages
Sometimes alliances form between implacable enemies to face a foe of greater magnitude. Recent geological disturbances have forged a tentative friendship between Turks and Greeks, In 175 AD, under the emperor Marcus Aurelius, Romans and Sarmatians joined forces against natives of Britain, along Hadrian's Wall, despite recent unprovoked attacks on the Romans by the Horsemen from beyond the Danube. This is the historically-based setting for Gillian Bradshaw's Island of Ghosts.
However, Romans and Sarmatians have less in common than Sarmatians and Britains, who share the oppressive yoke of Roman rule, or between Britains and Romans, who both live in houses and rely on their feet. Like other nomadic people, the Sarmatians are entirely equestrian, living in wagons or on horseback from before the time they can walk. The Sarmatian code of honor demands gestures that to the uninitiated seem the height of barbarism. Not to belabor the point... a skull from a respected opponent becomes a ceremonial drinking vessel.
Historical fiction dealing with so little known a people as the Sarmatians requires extensive explanation. In Islands of Ghosts, background is deftly woven into the plot. Written from the perspective of the Sarmatian prince, Lord Ariantes, all things Roman and British are outlandish. The casual purchase of apples for his troops, trembling with fear on the far shore of what appears to be a sea of death, reveals Sarmatian independence from currency. Different as they are, they share basic human needs, desires, and sorrows. This basis provides room for the characters to grow: for the Romans, to learn to handle a new subject population; for the Sarmatians to adapt to Roman life. Another component of historical fiction is romance. This story begins with loss of family -- not only for Ariantes who lost his wife and children, born and unborn, to the Romans, but also of Facilis, Roman senior centurion and Ariantes' foil, who lost his soldier son in the recent Sarmatian raid on the Romans. In the end, despite the murderous shenanigans of the twin of Snow White's stepmother, both Facilis and Ariantes obtain their hearts' desires.
The pace of Island of Ghosts is quick, the plot tight. Even the historical epilogue provides a must-read for anachronism hunters.
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