Songs of Three Islands, A Memoir
Author: Millicent Monks
Millicent Monks pre-married name was Millicent Carnegie, of the fabulously rich Carnegie family. However, her memoir reads like a novel, fantastical, full of pain and sorrow as Millicent describes the three islands where her family, along with their mental illness, lived most of their lives (they also lived in Boston). As Millicent dreams and weaves this tale with absolute mellifluous prose, and a talent that seeps from every page, we weep along with her.
Millicent’s mother was Lucy Coleman Carnegie, the daughter of Bertha and Andrew Carnegie II. Lucy and her sister Nan grew up Cumberland Island in the deep South off the coast of Florida. Lucy, insane and hating her daughters, lived in secluded, falling apart houses on the island and in Boston, forgetting to buy food and hating Millicent deeply as Lucy felt Millicent had been poisoned by her father Sean, who would not allow anyone to drink any milk but from their own cows, which was not pasteurized. Millicent spent summers at Crescent Island, her father’s island, off the coast of Maine. The third island, Northern Island, came to Millicent when she married Bobby from an old and austere Boston family.
Millicent and Bobby had two children, Cassandra and Angus. Cassandra inherited her grandmother Lucy’s mental illness and most of their lives, Bobby and Millicent tried to seek help for Cassandra but none was to be had and she entered McLean Hospital for a time.
As Mrs. Monks weaves the islands, her relatives, her daughter’s illness and her mother’s hate for her into a story, sometimes magical, mostly horrifying, we come to see how wealth does not preclude mental illness. There is no way to reveal the passions and secrets that Songs of Three Islands describes except to read this tremendously powerful novel.
With courage and relentless honesty, Millicent Carnegie Monks creates a novel that overwhelms and sings to us, saddens us and soothes us. Monks’ The Songs of Three Islands is not only a bestseller, it is a treatise on the survivability of the human spirit. An amazing memoir, a brilliant novel.
Ratings are based on a 5-star scale
Overall: 5
Review by Broad “A” – Ava
We received a copy of this title for our book review. All opinions are our own
Songs of Three Islands is available on Amazon.com and booksellers nationwide
This book was phenomenal! Mrs. Monks pulls you into the tangled web of life she lives. She takes you through all of the ups & downs in her youngest years to the present-the story itself is rather manic-depressive. She lived a life most fantasize about, in a beautiful gilded castle, on beautiful islands, debutant balls. However, among the majestic peaks, come tragic, dramatic, chaotic plunges. To the deepest core of your being. Even if you can envy her luxurious surroundings, you can empathize the pain that money can’t protect you from. The scandalous rumors, silent, sad fall from grace and stigma associated with behavior unbecoming of a lady-a stigma still not yet gone generations later. The legacy of all of the beauty on and of the islands, and the madness surrounding them juxtaposes the fact that during their glory they were they epitomized majesty, and as sure as the madness of the women enveloped their minds and beauty-so to; did it envelope the beautiful castles-the ball rooms, the fountains and gardens. The façade shattered and all that was left were memories. Some enviable, others relatable but the majority, sad. To see that the joy that came from the homes and parties; the women that threw them, the mothers who laughed and danced, the wives that loved and lost-almost everything, including their sanity-in the end, the sun had set, on the islands, the women; and most of all, the magical memories of the wonderful joyous times and the terrible, catastrophic times, intertwining the pinnacle of envy, and depths of despair. The Song of Three Islands is a book like none other. A story that seems impossible. Yet it is. A story from a time that seems to now be lost. Like a long forgotten diamond in a jewelry box, at one time, it shone and sparkled in the light and caught the eyes of everyone and the light faded, and the diamond was put away. All that is left is memories, emotions, and a strong yet soft enigma-named Millicent Monks. FANTASTIC!