The Vines by Shelley Nolden

Imagine the Natzis doing medical experiments on innocent people, now imagine this going on for hundreds of years. That's what this book is about.

The men in the Gettler family have a sadistic streak. They focus all of their experiments upon one poor young woman in New York at a quarantine hospital on North Brother Island. They know she can overcome any disease and doesn't look like she ages beyond 18. They do horrible experiments on her while the hospital is open and even after it closes. She is a prisoner of the island and the Gettler men.

The book is some fantasy and possibly some truth to it also. Mostly fiction, though. I liked it but felt for poor Cora whom they did all of their experimentings on.

I received a complimentary copy of #TheVines from #NetGalley I was under no obligation to post a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

This book was a slow burn, but I enjoyed it. Finn's family has a long history with North Brother Island near NYC. From his great grandfather on, his family was part of a sordid history on the island. When Finn visits the island, he meets its lone inhabitant, Cora, and everything he thought he knew about his family and their history is blown apart.

This book focuses on morality, microbiology, eugenics, and other pressing issues. It's a deep dive into the history of family, and the lengths scientists and doctors will go to in order to make medical discoveries. the story is dark and gritty, and even uncomfortable.

This book is the first in a new series, and I like that because there is a lot of ground still to cover.

The Vines is a timely novel which takes us back to 1904 and a woman named Cora who is a host to multiple viruses including, typhoid and the Spanish flu.
Cora comes to the island as a teen with her younger sister to be helped by physicians on North Brother Island in New York harbor where a hospital has been built for patients with communicable diseases. Cora comes to the attention of a German doctor named Dr. Ulrich Gettler. Cora shows no symptoms of the diseases she carries and the doctor wants to study her and figure out a cure based off of her immune system.
Here's where it gets weird. The story goes back and forth from present to past and Cora is still alive and still looks like a teenager. She is trapped on North Brother Island in what is now the ruins of the early 1900's hospital. She cannot leave because when she tries to, her symptoms of all the diseases she carries start to show themselves.
Cora has been passed down as a human test subject through the medical researchers in the Gettler family.
This story was fascinating to me. I really enjoyed the historic elements that were part of the story and I cannot wait for the next book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ooooh, I loved this one. It mostly takes place on a currently abandoned island near NYC from around 1900 up till 2007. The island once housed a hospital for people suffering from measles, typhoid, etc. It’s about the ethics of medical experimentation, Nazi war crimes, deadly viruses and epidemics, vaccines and cures, and family secrets and loyalty. It’s a heavy book and parts are dark, but I really, really liked it.

Before talking about how good of a book this is (I’m still digesting, but I really enjoyed it) - I feel I have to mention that this genre bending book involves content that will be triggering subject(s) to many people. It addresses so much in terms of ethical medical practices (torture and/or experimentation for the “greater good”), global pandemics, terminal illnesses, loss of life/death (I.e. typhoid fever, cancer, war, drowning, etc..) and violations of basic human rights, that at times it can be hard to read. While not being the primary focus, COVID-19 is also mentioned in this book; so for those who have sensitivities to the subjects I mentioned above, take that into consideration. No matter what way you dissect it, this book and it’s contents, is heavy. Additionally, it is an incredible story of the human capacity to survive. While this work of fiction is part fantastical and part historical fiction/mystery, many of the viruses, events and people surrounding the story were real.

I had no idea what I was signing myself up for when I requested an arc of this book, but I am pleasantly shocked at how incredibly well done this story was. You will feel for these characters in a way that can be so rare in fiction. It’s as if the story is real, and you’re experiencing it through the eyes of a survivor. There were times throughout The Vines that I felt so deeply saddened by the events occurring (especially as it pertains to the torture of our main character, Cora) that I had to step away for awhile.

This historical fiction/sci-fi serves as a heart-wrenching reminder that in our quest to save lives, we must be careful not to lose our own humanity. Please, please, take the time to read the author’s note at the end, you’ll understand so much more of how personal and raw the subjects breached in this novel are to the author. Thank you to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an unbiased review, and many thanks to Shelley Nolden for creating this fascinating book.

I cannot wait for book 2!