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“No island is an island,” writes Francesca Segal in Welcome to the Glorious Tuga. This warm and lovely novel is set on a fictional tropical island in the South Atlantic, where the close-knit residents are all embroiled in each other’s affairs. “Islands are drama factories. It’s one of our main industries,” one islander explains to the newcomers.
The Glorious Tuga is the perfect vacation read—even if you’re not going anywhere. Siegel transports readers to Tuga de Oro, a tiny, steamy British territory nearly 7,000 miles from England and 2,000 miles from the nearest continent. Tuga isn’t exactly paradise, but it has its charms. The community is built on “compassionate collectivist principles” and is made up mostly of the descendants of various refugees who have fled “brutal European colonialism” over the centuries.
Siegel highlights another quality of islands: they are “places you flee to, or places you flee from”. They are also places that attract runners or searchers. Charlotte Walker, a 30-something London-based veterinarian and herpetologist, admits to being a bit of both. Her official reason for going to Tuga was to take up a year-long fellowship to study endangered golden coin turtles, but she also hoped to discover the identity of her father, who she had reason to believe – after the recent mishap of her mother, a wealthy, powerful Queen’s Counsel – might have come from Tuga.
Charlotte’s arrival on the last cargo ship before hurricane season will further isolate the remote island for the next six months. While these ships carry some passengers to and from work and school in the UK, their more immediate mission is to provide the island with essentials, including flour, chocolate, tools, tractors, medical supplies, contract specialists such as dentists and opticians, and more.
Charlotte gets terribly seasick on the trip, and her companion, Dan Zekri, a 30-something doctor, takes care of her. He’s returned to the island after 15 years in England to serve as chief medical officer, a position his uncle has held for 40 years. Dan and Charlotte get along so well that Siegel seduces us into thinking this will be a nice, happy love story. But it’s not.
Centered around a veterinarian and featuring a cast of unique local characters, Welcome to Brilliant Tuga is a gripping, twisty story reminiscent of All Creatures, with a dash of South Pacific. Instead of cars and over-pampered pets, the film features free-roaming donkeys, hop-on and hop-off local transportation, shared bikes, and clumsy ancient turtles.
Although Charlotte was trained as a theorist rather than a clinician, she realized that to truly help the islanders, she needed to care for their precious goats, sheep, pigs, and other farm animals, as well as a sick pet tortoise named Martha. With the exception of working animals, most non-native mammals are no longer allowed on Tuga Island to protect the island’s fragile ecosystem. (Cats, a major threat to birds, are banned altogether.)
Charlotte has a hard time convincing islanders and readers why the endangered golden coin turtle (commonly known as the Chinese three-lined box turtle) is so important. But the eccentric characters are the stars of the book.
The islanders are intricately connected and close-knit, and thankfully they are all included in the book’s roster of characters, including Garrick Williams, a pretentious local priest who harbors a shameful secret. His sister Moz, a teacher who has influenced generations of students, is married to Dan’s uncle, Sol Gabai, a hard-working, extroverted doctor who no one wants to be replaced, least of all by Dan. After being off the island for so long, Dan is considered an FFA (foreigner), which raises questions about what home is and whether one can ever go home again. Dan is dedicated to improving local healthcare, but serious missteps in his personal life don’t help his cause.
Segal, an Anglo-American author (and daughter of Erich Segal of Love Story fame) whose previous novels Awkward Times and The Innocents paid homage to Henry James and Edith Wharton, tells a delightful story about the importance of finding or creating a sense of community and belonging, no matter where you are.
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