As someone who doesn't normally reach for a historical fiction, this was a very pleasant surprise. I can already see all of those women in their 40s/50s reaching for this publication and thoroughly enjoying it. Even though I wasn't the target audience, I flew through the whole story that captivated me from the start and binged it in one evening. The story was engaging despite a few moments when the narrative seemed to be a little stiff but it was always overcome by the quickness and spiciness of the plot.

I found the first 100 pages engaging, however I felt the remainder of the novel could have been edited more closely.

I enjoyed the characterisations but I feel the way in which the depictions of a visually impaired character were naive and poorly drawn.

Overall, I cared enough to want to complete the book and find out what happened and I think many will enjoy it.

Thought this sounded interesting but I wasn’t convinced by the characterisation of some, and found it hard to care for their stories.

I love it. It races along at a mile a minute and every page leaves you breathless. Lots of interesting characters, well-observed situations, and a brilliant twisty plot that will keep you guessing. Fantastic.

This was an addictive and fast paced read. Tonally, it moved seamlessly between the sensual and serious sides of Mrs Guilliver’s character and business. I really enjoyed the discussions around female autonomy and the straight faced way in which sex work was portrayed. Martin clearly acknowledged the nuances of the industry of sex work through the use of a wide cast of women present throughout the novel.

Mrs. Gulliver was a fast paced read that kept really engaged until it didn't. I thought i knew what i was getting into reading this book but i didn't expect what was a weird mix of romance, somewhat gang related, i think kinda historical... it was a weird blend of things. But weird doesn't always mean bad.

I sped through reading this as it was a mixed bag of characters and situations they found themselves in told through the main character Mrs. Gulliver. I think this book really could've been something amazing with a few tweeks, and i wish they expanded more on Mrs. Gullivers history a little more.

Regardless, Thank you to Netgalley and Doubleday publishing for an E-arc.

A breath of fresh air; engaging story with character driven narrative that is pure escapism and a delightful read.

“It is 1954, and prostitution is legal in the tropical haven that is Verona Island.”

I just loved the sense of time and place. It is beautifully written, capturing a period when times were different.

Poverty was real and had dire consequences. The Church still had some influence and women were still dependent on a good marriage or being born into wealth.

This is a fascinating story around the struggle of one woman, Mrs Gulliver, who was forced into a life of prostitution and rose to run her own successful brothel.

Issues around the women who work in this environment is addressed and those who ‘exploit’ them is touched upon.

But this is a high-end establishment in contrast to the sex-trafficking and underaged sex workers employed in lower end joints down in the port.
Yet Mrs Gulliver has to face-up to her own role when a young destitute blind girl turns up looking for a work and a roof over her head. But in offering her a safe and secure environment is she equally guilty as the men in her life who had abused her as a child.
This sense of taking advantage and exploiting her girls is confronted again with Mrs Gulliver when a young idealistic student believes he can save the blind girl from a life of prostitution.

The subject of Carità’s blindness is beautifully dealt with in this novel. Her independence and strong character drive the story alongside Mrs Gulliver’s powerful and insightful narration.

The lack of one sense seems to enable the author to describe and enhance the colours, smells, and rich sounds in the story. There is also wit and intelligent conversation throughout enhancing this novel.

Despite the location, the sex is never graphic or glorified. Indeed the value of the women is never diminished; their hardships are not passed over - an abusive uncle, a violent customer and the dangers of unwanted pregnancies are treated with humanity and respect.

This is a book about life and survival. Making the best of one’s circumstances and grabbing opportunities where you can regain control of your life.

The female characters are wonderfully drawn and in the complicated relationship portrayed here are the one’s that remain with you at the end of the book.

It is a compelling book that fully draws you into these pages. A story where you care about what happens and lose yourself briefly in this imagined world.

But for the advanced readers copy I was afforded by NetGalley this is a title that would have passed me by. That would have been my loss as I have not enjoyed a book as much as Mrs Gulliver in a long time.

Mrs Gulliver is a quirky, saucy little slice of life novel published yesterday by American author Valerie Martin who won the Orange Prize (now Women’s Prize) for her novel Property back in 2003. It’s loosely inspired by Romeo and Juliet - I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a retelling, more an offbeat feminist reworking with thematic overlaps.

Mrs Gulliver is set on the tropical island of Verona, whose location isn’t revealed (my best guess is somewhere in the Mediterranean?). It’s the 1950s, prostitution is legal on Verona and the eponymous Mrs Gulliver runs a successful brothel.

When blind girl Carità arrives at her doorstep seeking employment, Mrs Gulliver takes a chance on her but things get very complicated when the gutsy, shrewd Carità falls in love with one of her clients, Ian Drohan, the son of a judge and heir of one of the wealthiest families on the island. Ian is a moralistic young man whose sees as his divine purpose to “rescue” Carità but who can’t seem to keep his nose clean.

There was a lot to like in this book: the writing is lovely, the story is gently intriguing and very funny at times and the characters are fully-formed. It felt quite French?

There is something that didn’t quite gel in the book and I found it hard to put my finger on just what that was. The author doesn’t really pull off the 1950s setting and it’s perhaps just a little pedestrian at times, neither of which really hampered my enjoyment however.

A pleasant romp for fans of quirky books with a vintage feel that don’t take themselves too seriously (think The Book of Goose or Small Pleasures or a Valerie Perrin novel). 3.5/5 ⭐️

*Many thanks to publisher Serpent’s Tail for the arc via @netgalley. Mrs Gulliver was published on 7 March. As always this is an honest review.

BOOK REVIEW 📚🌴🖤: Mrs Gulliver by Valerie Martin. ⭐⭐⭐. 5
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'I looked from one to the other, the judge to the priest-a perfect pair of hypocrites. Who did they think created a world in which an impoverished, beautiful blind girl could only escape rape and possibly murder by working in a brothel?'
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As a girl, Mrs Gulliver was sexually abused while in the care of her uncle. Going forward, she puts everything she has and all that she is into creating a successful life by herself, for herself. She is determined to have full control of her finances, her choices, her body and her life and wants the same for the young women she employs.
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Seeking employment in the city, Carita meets Mrs Gulliver. Blind from birth, beautiful and intelligent beyond her years, she charms Mrs Gulliver and soon has a room and job at the brothel. As a girl, Carita was also violated by her uncle. Unaware of what was happening to her body, her uncle takes her to be 'clipped' which results in her unable to bare children. Often underestimated due to her blindness and prayed upon by men because of her beauty, like Mrs Gulliver,Carita is headstrong and fearless. She is determined to make her mark in this world.
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At the heart of this story are two different women, on different journeys in life but both wanting the same thing. They want to challenge the norm, and fight for agency on an island that is too quick to dismiss them and in a world where men are 'king'.
This book is so well written, the characters are excellent and well developed. However, the pace of the story is shockingly slow. So much so, at times I didn't want to continue reading. However, I'm so glad that I did! The ending was tied up beautifully and it was so satisfying.
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Lila and Carita are both a force to be wreckened with and I can't wait for you to meet them!
A big thank you to @netgalley and @serpentstail for this advanced proof. Mrs Gulliver is out on the 7th March 2024. 🖤
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This is a many-layered book, without every being dense. It has, at it's heart, relationships - men and women, employers and employees. labour and capital, families. It's a ll a bit mysterious, as a pair of young lovers on the (subtly named) island of Verona go about meeting and falling in love. There is homage to Romeo and Juliet, but much more conversation about economics, prostitution and abortion. It's a book that stays with me after I finished it, wondering what it was really about, at it's very core.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

📚Mrs Gulliver by Valerie Martin

Set in the mythical South American isle of Verona, Mrs Gulliver is the story of two women: Lila Gulliver the brothel madam who caters to the high class clientele of the island with an upmarket house of prostitution and Carita, her latest acquisition for the house, a blind woman fallen on hard times after the destitution of her family.

I adored this novel, there was the atmospheric heat of the tropics - that I think avoids cliche by never being named as a specific place - along with the feminist themes of these two intelligent women moving through a world run by weaker men. The way that sex work is explored is refreshing, the idea of this world as a place where women have power and yet Lila’s struggled with the question of whether she exploited Carita is the most compelling dealing of this subject that I have seen so far. These are beautifully drawn characters that move through a world of compromise in a way that always feels true and unique to themselves. Carita’s lover Ian is a particularly apt expression of the binary of the Madonna-Whore complex.

I would say that the only flaw in the novel is in Lila’s ending to the story. She is the more compelling character with Carita acting as more of a symbolic stand-in and yet she appears to turn away from her life of financial independence - and the compromises that this brings - in favour of a more conventional life with little more given in argument for it than the passage of time. It’s perhaps a little disappointing to see this fabulous story of female power fall under the demands of conventional romance ultimately.

Mrs Gulliver is set in the 1950s, on the fictional Verona Island, which seems to be off the coast of the US, in the Carribbean. Here, prostitution is legal, and Lila Gulliver (not her real name) runs one of the island’s more reputable establishments. She cares for her ‘girls’, and they live an ostensibly convivial and communal life in her ‘house’ in the centre of town, albeit one in the shadow of both local criminal gang warfare and the ever-present threat to its girls’ safety from its male clientele. The novel begins with Mrs Gulliver being introduced to the Bercy sisters, destitute following the death of their formerly prosperous (but latterly penniless) uncle. The younger sister, Carità, is both beautiful and, intriguingly to Gulliver and her ‘majordomo’ Brutus, blind. She is taken on board, with Mrs Gulliver evidently feeling a special responsibility for her welfare.

I was initially intrigued by Mrs Gulliver. It starts well, with an intriguing concept and throws us straight into the arrival of Carità at the house. It jumps very rapidly into unnervingly graphic territory, with Carità’s ‘trial’ encounter with Brutus. In this sense, with an almost immediate dive into fairly shocking territory, it reminded me of Property, which I thought was excellent. The story of Carità’s early days in the brothel is compellingly told, with a vivid picture built of the day-to-day carousing at Gulliver’s house and of Carità’s rapid adaptation to her new life. Its women are universally interesting, intelligent characters, with many of the employees marking time (and making money) while studying and/or aiming for greater things. A conversation between Carità and one of the other girls, a student, about Marx, shows her savvy intellect at an early stage.

Lurking ominously in the background of these early pages are the island’s men. The best of them are solid, reliable, uninspiring and unlikely to cause active harm to the book’s women. The worst (a seeming majority) are violent, unpredictable, and accustomed to using women in whatever way they see fit. Ian Drohan, the son of the richest family in town, arrives as the sullen, apparently socially inept friend of a particularly loathsome young frequentor of the brothel. He is immediately captivated by Carità, and the pair immediately passionately connect. What Carità sees in the seeming oddball with a saviour complex isn’t immediately apparent, but becomes so in due course. The pair elope and are married by a surprisingly obliging family priest, in a move that everyone assumes will anger Ian’s parents, notably the powerful judge Mike Drohan. Soon after, Ian is caught up in a gang-related conflict and mortally wounds the son of another local gang big dog. He escapes to what he hopes will be a ‘purer’ life in a fishing community, taking Carità with him. Mike arrives at Gulliver’s house and the two form their own passionate bond. Subsequently the novel takes some rather over-the-top twists and turns, most of which are too spoiler-ish to recount here.

It’s in these later sections, though, that the novel lost my interest somewhat Whilst always readable and for the most part gripping, its initially promising concepts (and there are quite a few) seem to lose steam as the book progresses, and races its way to a rather unsatisfactory conclusion. Both Lila Gulliver and Carità are genuinely intriguing characters, and while they have their successes and (especially for the latter) moments of triumph, their eventual fates feel somewhat less triumphant. While both end the book in apparently better places than where they began, neither has a fate that befits quite how fiercely independent and strong they’re initially introduced as. Aspects of the second half of the book feel overly melodramatic and schlocky, taking the Shakespearean source material (there’s a loose Romeo and Juliet inspiration signposted throughout) for a bit of a fun ride, but one that doesn’t always deliver.

Elsewhere some of the more interestingly feminist themes of the book were a little too thinly explored. The concept of the island’s legalised prostitution isn’t really overtly interrogated. There are hints that it’s not an entirely satisfactory arrangement: while Gulliver’s brothel puts on an outwardly good show and manages to take reasonably good care of its girls, irruptions of male violence are rarely far away and not always able to be caught; and elsewhere on the island there are brothels offering much less regulated environments and even offering underage employees. I guess it’s potentially suggesting that there is no perfect way of regulating away the ills of men, but it doesn’t go very far in its discussion of the subject.

It’s a little more interesting in exploring potential routes to power for women, with Carità’s journey undoubtedly the most interesting one to follow, even if it ends in a slightly unsatisfactory place. Mrs Gulliver is led to question as several points whether she has exploited Carità, a fact that she’s unable to refute, but there are definitely more complex dynamics at play. Carità is ultimately able to exploit both the patriarchal system that underpins the brothels (and of which Gulliver is an acquiescent tool); and the church’s own marriage sacrament; to get what she wants (that is, the college education and comfortable existence she feels she has been denied). Considering just how much Carità has manipulated the novel’s events to her own ends is probably the most fun aspect of the novel’s latter half, and we’re definitely left in no doubt that she is far from the child-like and ‘weak’ character that she is initially introduced as.

An intriguing book with a great premise that begins strongly, proceeds in a way that’s always interesting and keeps the attention, but ends on a bit of a flat note. There are some great characters and interesting thought-starters, though, and it’s definitely a worthwhile read overall.

(7.5/10)

Well, I requested this book from NetGalley because the author had won the Orange Prize for fiction in 2003 with “Property”. However, although she clearly has a wide readership, and is a popular author this novel was just not for me.
The eponymous Mrs Gulliver runs a high class brothel on an island and takes in Carità, a blind young woman who has few opportunities to earn a living. Carità does not see herself as a victim of bad fortune, though we learn she has been sexually abused and involuntarily sterilised to supposedly protect her. She is intelligent, and soon after starting work for Mrs Gulliver she meets Ian. It looks as though he might be her key to leaving and shaping a life beyond everyone else’s expectations. Meanwhile, there is a gangster turf war taking place that threatens them all.
Although the story progresses at a good pace, the dialogue seems flat and the characters somewhat stereotypical. For me there’s a little too much explaining – the characters say what they think, and if they don’t, the author makes the situation very clear. It is set in the past, in a traditional, hierarchical and conservative society, but there were phrases that seemed modern, and I found it hard to locate it in a particular period until, at the close of the novel we learn that telephones have just been introduced to the island. Similarly, the names of the characters give few clues, as they span the fashion of several decades. Martin’s descriptions of the island are evocative, and I found myself googling “egg and potatoes” to try and work out the location from the cuisine. This could be a stylistic choice, and it does have the effect of making the story simpler and even fable-like.
This wasn’t the book I wanted, but I can imagine this would appeal to someone who wanted a quick read, with a brisk storyline and nothing too challenging.

I was initially drawn in to this book with the exotic island setting and the more unusual setting of the brothel, and the first few 'chapters' moved at a decent pace. Unfortunately, around the 40% mark, the book slowed considerably and, admittedly, I lost interest.

I thought the plot was weak, and there wasn't enough story to hold my attention. The characters were flat and I found one relationship as well to be rather unbelievable, especially the pace at which it moved. I thought it seemed quite an implausible thing for do considering who the character was. I felt one of the conflicts was resolved far too quickly. I also didn't respond to the author's writing style. There was a bit too much focus on the minutiae of the main character's day, and it made the book drag. Some of the writing also felt a bit clunky, and there was a bit too much explaining rather than showing when it comes to plot development.

Mrs Gulliver is due to be published on 7th March. I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

Set on Verona Island in the 1950’s, in a very engaging opening scene, nineteen-year-old Carità, arrives at Mrs Gulliver’s brothel seeking work. Carità is both beautiful and blind! Mrs Gulliver, somewhat intrigued and fascinated by the warmth and confidence of Carità, hires her immediately. The story follows these two strong female characters and how they navigate a largely male dominated world.

This writing is strong and engaging, but the story itself felt a little weak, leaning into cliches every so often. Descriptions of how the blind Carità navigates the world and her strength of character were powerful. When Ian appears and wants to save Carità from a life in the brothel, the reader shares the sense of suspicion and animosity that Mrs Gulliver feels towards him. However, for me the story weakened when Ian’s father turns up, as it descends a little into daytime-soap-opera space.

Overall, this is a good holiday read with an essence of 50 Shades-esque obsession, though far lighter on the sex spectrum. Ultimately, while this is not what I would typically read, it holds its ground

I was first attracted by the cover and stayed once I read the description.

An unusual novel, in an interesting setting, with good pacing.

3.75 stars

I really enjoyed the first 60-70% of this but did feel it lost steam towards the end. Valerie Martin has definitely done a good job painting the characters of Mrs Gulliver and her staff and this is undeniably well written with a good story line. There’s also the interesting concept of how sex work is viewed even by those working in the field and when it is legal. It did feel a bit misogynistic at times particularly with how sometimes it felt like Carità was depicted as just a cunning money grabber. Overall, I did enjoy this.
Thank you for the ARC.

A most unusual but equally really enjoyable read. The writing is fast and furious and it is impossible at times to put the book down :) Lila Gulliver is the Madam of a brothel on the tropical island of Verona. She is a bright business woman not only managing her staff but also looking after their welfare, and this in return creates a sense of loyalty. A young attractive lady impresses Lila, and even though Carita is blind she is employed, and very quickly proves her worth to the business. However life soon gets very complex when Carita falls in love with Ian Brohan son of judge Michael Brolan…….” a dashing, fine figure of a man, confident in the power of his physical presence”......
It would be wrong to believe that clients visiting Madam Gullivers are dictating, and demanding, being wealthy does not mean that they have a right to humiliate, use, and discard the young ladies on offer. What makes this such a brilliant book is the way the author shows the reader that in reality it is the women working for, and with, and including, Lila Gulliver who dictate the shape and direction of their lives….”Men are expected to succeed, women to fail. Every woman knows the deck is stacked. In practical terms this makes it more difficult for women to succeed, but it’s more damning for men to fail. Win or lose, defying expectations is heavy going”........
This is storytelling at its best, set in the early 1950’s it brings to life the sights and sounds of a tropical island. Lila Gulliver holds the reader in awe with her beauty, and smart business acumen looking after and guiding those girls who she feels have entrusted their lives to her. Highly recommended.

1950’s America, Mrs Gulliver runs a brothel and takes in a young visually impaired girl, Carita as an employee. Before long, Carita is a favourite and falls in love with the wrong boy, creating trouble for herself; let alone Mrs Gulliver.

The writer has a reputation for writing literary fiction and there is a lot of craft and graft here, it is after all a single prose piece of three hundred pages with no chapter breaks. However, there is allow a lot of pulp elements here: sassy dames, threatening gangsters and dialogue so arch Dashiell Hammett could run a train over it.

Above all this, is the concept of sex as a transaction - even in the best of relationships and how economic systems hold people in poverty. It’s published by Serpent’s Tail on March 7th and I thank them for a copy.

Mrs. Gulliver: A Novel by Valerie Martin is a good fit for those seeking a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant exploration of female empowerment, subversion, and agency in a patriarchal society, with a unique blend of historical and literary elements