Review: Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

Bellewether
Susanna Kearsley
Sourcebooks Landmark
2018, 512p
Copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}:

“The house, when I first saw it, seemed intent on guarding what it knew; but we all learned, by the end of it, that secrets aren’t such easy things to keep.”

It’s late summer, war is raging, and families are torn apart by divided loyalties and deadly secrets. In this complex and dangerous time, a young French Canadian lieutenant is captured and billeted with a Long Island family, an unwilling and unwelcome guest. As he begins to pitch in with the never-ending household tasks and farm chores, Jean-Philippe de Sabran finds himself drawn to the daughter of the house. Slowly, Lydia Wilde comes to lean on Jean-Philippe, true soldier and gentleman, until their lives become inextricably intertwined. Legend has it that the forbidden love between Jean-Philippe and Lydia ended tragically, but centuries later, the clues they left behind slowly unveil the true story.

Part history, part romance, and all kinds of magic, Susanna Kearsley’s latest masterpiece will draw you in and never let you go, even long after you’ve closed the last page.

I’ve been a big fan of Susanna Kearsley’s books every since Marg introduced me to The Winter Sea quite a few years ago now. I was very excited to receive a review copy of this one some months ago but I was actually patient and waited until close to the release date to read it. Last weekend I had a truly lazy day, staying in bed all day to read this. I didn’t realise upon starting it how long it was. It’s definitely a hefty read.

It’s a dual narrative, historical and present day. In the current timeline, Charley is a curator who has recently moved from Canada to Long Island, New York for family reasons. She’s taken a job curating an exhibition at the Wilde House Museum which is undergoing renovations. It’s the former home of a war hero and the museum will celebrate and honour his life. Charley finds herself soon drawn into an intriguing mystery as locals tell her the strange stories that surround the house – that of a ghost and of a tragedy that happened many years before.

In the past, Jean-Phillipe de Sabran is a French Canadian lieutenant fighting in some war I honestly don’t know anything about. I’m not American or Canadian and this war takes place before the British “arrived” in Australia (therefore schooling never bothered to cover it) so I have to admit, I’d never actually even heard of this war. I’ve talked at length in various reviews about how bad my historical knowledge is and this is another example! This is prior to American independence anyway and Jean-Phillips along with another man seem to be some sort of very gentlemanly prisoners of war where they are billeted with American families. Apparently American/British prisoners of war were billeted with French families in Canada or something, it’s all very civilised. Jean-Phillipe doesn’t speak English but the man he is billeted with does, so he acts as a translator although Jean-Phillipe often finds this frustrating as he feels his fellow lieutenant is not translating everything, or with accuracy. Jean-Phillipe is also French Canadian whereas the other man is French French and this itself seems to suggest that they are very different and that the French French lieutenant looks down on the French Canadian Jean-Phillipe. The daughter of the house, Lydia, has reason to be resentful of soldiers of the opposing side and she’s dead against the men being billeted in her own home. Despite this, Jean-Phillipe is quite taken with Lydia and he wishes to get to know her.

I found all of the historical stuff quite interesting but I have to admit that at the same time, it felt quite slow. There’s a lot of information to process in both timelines as well so at times this is quite a dense read. It takes rather a long time for things to ‘progress’ in the historical portion of the novel. Neither Lydia nor Jean-Phillipe speak the other’s language and their interactions are so minimal, I just never really got to the point where I think I got invested in their future. I would’ve liked to become invested in it, but I don’t know, it just wasn’t enough for me. We are privy to both their thoughts and I enjoyed that but their interactions are so limited. I suppose despite really not speaking each other’s language they learn each other’s true characters by observation and Lydia does have to overcome a rather large (and understandable) prejudice to see the sort of man that Jean-Phillipe is and that’s admirable. But it still left me wanting.

I quite enjoyed the modern day story. Charley is undertaking something quite challenging, both at work and out of it. Her appointment was not unanimous and she deals with animosity of several members of the board and has to prove herself and her theories at every meeting. I really liked her and I also thought her eventual love interest was wonderful. There’s a brief connection in this story to a character from a previous Kearsley book and I do wonder if we might see that character in a book of their own one day. Charley’s family situation is interesting as well and I admired her for stepping up at a time of grief to really try and shoulder responsibility and provide support and stability.

I did enjoy this and it’s meticulously researched and written but I just didn’t find myself drawn into the historical aspect with the same intensity as with prior Kearsley novels. Perhaps it was because I was lacking in knowledge myself, perhaps it was because the interactions just weren’t enough for me. The modern day story definitely kept me involved though and I found that I really loved the little ‘twist’ at the end. That way very well done.

7/10

Book #131 of 2018

The Firebird – Susanna Kearsley

The Firebird
Susanna Kearsley
Allison & Busby
2013, 484p
Copy borrowed from Marg

Nicola Marter was born with the unique ability to glean information from items she touches. She sees images, hears conversations and gets glimpses into both the past of the object and those who have owned it before. This is something Nicola doesn’t like to publicise and she keeps it hidden – very few people in the world know of her gift. Nicola fears the skepticism and judgement of non-believers, should she ever make her abilities known even though during her work at a London gallery, it often comes in handy especially from telling a forgery from the genuine article.

When Nicola touches a small wooden statue that its owner believes once belonged to Russia’s Empress Catherine, Nicola senses that this is most likely true. But she has no proof and she cannot use the fact that can see into this object’s past as proof of its authenticity. Knowing something about the statue’s current owner as well, Nicola feels compelled to help her. She is going to Russia anyway, to purchase a painting on behalf of a client of the gallery and Nicola sees no harm in using that trip to attempt to find out more about the small wooden carving known as ‘The Firebird’. She is also forced to turn to someone for help, someone far more powerful than her.

Rob McMorran has always been extremely psychically gifted. Whereas Nicola has often spurned her gifts, or kept them hidden, Rob has made no such attempts throughout his life. Those in the small town in Scotland where he lives have always known that Robbie had the gift of the sight – and often the ability to communicate with those long departed. If anyone can find out more about The Firebird and help Nicola hone her gifts into getting the information that she seeks, it’s Rob. Nicola loved him once and loves him still but they have always been in two different minds about their gifts and it drove Nicola from him once before.

From London to Scotland to Belgium and Russia, Nicola follows the story of Anna, searching for the way in which she came to possess The Firebird. Her story is a special one connected to the Jacobites of the 1700’s, continuing a story that readers have been clamouring for.

I’m an unabashed fan of Susanna Kearsley. Marg from Adventures of an Intrepid Reader is a shameless “pusher” of this author on people and she got me started some time ago with The Winter Sea. I quickly followed that with The Shadowy Horses, Mariana and The Rose Garden, most of which left me in very good stead to read this book, which contains some very beloved characters from previous ones. My copy is on pre-order and I think it must be the American one because it’s something like 140 days until it ships. However Marg was lucky enough to score herself an early copy, which I stole borrowed from her.

Perhaps as the first one I read, The Winter Sea has always been my favourite, followed by The Shadowy Horses and characters from both of those novels reappear here. Rob McMorran most readers will remember as the young boy Robbie in TSH, gifted with extremely potent psychic abilities. And through Nicola’s tracing of Anna’s story we get reacquainted with Captain Gordon from The Winter Sea. I love a good sequel and that’s part of the reason I fell in love so completely with this one. The other reason is Rob McMorran.

As a confirmed skeptic of the “woo-woo”, the strength of this story relying on psychic abilities had the potential to really make it hard for me to connect with it. I think Nicola’s blatant shunning of her ability is what made me like her – she’s different and she doesn’t want to be. She knows she has this ability to see and learn things by touching but she doesn’t dare tell her boss or their rich art-seeing clients because they’d think her quite mad. She’s a bit embarrassed by it. In contrast, Rob McMorran owns his proudly. Everyone knows of his abilities and he’s not frightened to tell those that don’t. Rob and Nicola were something to each other once but she fled him and his open life. When she wants to track the history of The Firebird, he is the natural choice to help her. He has gifts that she believe far surpass her own, but as Rob points out to her, Nicola really has no idea of the extent of her gifts because she rarely, if ever, uses them and doesn’t test her abilities.

All of my skepticism faded into the background as I sank into this story. Robbie was a charming boy in The Shadowy Horses but he’s a grown man now – and decidedly delicious. The psychic connection was actually quite sexy and his never-ending patience with Nicola, both about her abilities and her indecision in general was typical Kearsley. Her heroes are all gentle, understanding “nice guy” types who definitely do not finish last and I think Rob might be my favourite of them all!

It can be a difficult thing to blend the historical and the contemporary – it can be all to easy to lose yourself in one time only to be jarred out of it as the perspective changes. With these books, I am always lost in both worlds, devouring each page eagerly, because I’m desperate to know what happens in one timeline so I can get back to the other and find out there too, every scene leaves me wanting more but doesn’t leave me feeling cheated or reluctant to leave each timeline.

I don’t re-read very often anymore (too many books, too little time!) but during this I actually went back and re-read The Shadowy Horses in its entirety and had I had The Winter Sea handy I would have read that too! This one is also ripe for a re-read but Marg has reclaimed her copy and now I must wait for my own to arrive.

9/10

Book #10 of 2013

The Firebird releases in Britain 28th January (but is currently already shipping from The Book Depository) and in the USA on 4th June.

I’m counting The Firebird towards my What’s In A Name?6 Challenge, for the category of Read a book with fire (or the equivalent) in the title. It’s the first book completed for the challenge.

 

Mariana – Susanna Kearsley

Julia has always been drawn to the house. She first saw it as a five year old, in a car trip on a family holiday. She saw it again at 22 and then again at 29 when she discovered it was for sale. With a conveniently timed inheritance, she buys the property and moves in, without having ever looked inside it. She cannot articulate what it is that draws her to the house but she knows that it is where she is supposed to be.

She is immediately embraced by the small local community, entertaining a stream of visitors and well wishers on her first few days, all of whom bring something for her to eat. She meets the local publican and becomes good friends with her, as well as the local Lord of the Manor, Geoffrey de Mornay who owns the nearby sprawling Crofton Hall. There’s also Geoffrey’s friend Iain, a Scots farmer who also has quite a green thumb and spends most of his days barking at other people who dare weed anywhere he might turn his hand to making things grow. Julia is happy in her new house, although curious about its history. She stumbles upon the name Mariana, a young woman who once lived there, long ago.

Julia then begins having strange trips into the past where she relives Mariana’s life as her – her life living with her cruel and religious uncle and her browbeaten aunt and the aunt’s sister, Rachel. Mariana was sent from London after her mother perished in a plague and it seems her uncle has plenty of use for her as help around the house for her aunt until he can marry her off to one of his friends, the way he is marrying off Rachel. Mariana is miserable in the household and her frequent walks and trips outside put her in the path of one Richard de Mornay, Lord of Crofton Hall. Warned by her uncle to stay away from him, Mariana finds that she cannot – anymore it seems than he can stay away from her.

Julia finds that while she is Mariana, she mimics her movements – ie if while revisiting the past, Mariana walks to the local village, then Julia does the same. This proves to be slightly dangerous as Julia can never be sure of who she might see whilst on one of her historical trips, or how she may explain what she is doing. However she cannot stop these forays into the past as there must be a resolution to Mariana and Richard’s story. Only then can Julia close the circle and move on with her own life and decide how she feels about the current day Lord of the Manor.

Mariana is my fourth Susan Kearsley novel in the past four or so months. I have loved all three I’ve read previously (The Winter Sea, The Rose Garden and The Shadowy Horses) but I have to admit, this one did not pull me in the way that those other three did. It contains all the classic Kearsley traits: a likable protagonist, forays into the past, a Scotsman, a charming third to a love triangle, etc but this novel still felt a little bit different. And I think that my feelings for it came down to the way that the love triangle (it’s not technically but I don’t have a better description so I’m going to use that) played out.

In two previous Kearsley novels, I’ve been very definite about who I wanted the main character to end up with and that has played out with very little drama and with enough swiftness so that you get some decent interaction between the couple. In the third Kearsley novel I couldn’t quite decide who I wanted the heroine to end up because I kept changing my mind throughout the book, but any of them would’ve satisfied me. This time I did know but it seemed like most of the book was wasted on developing a relationship between Julia and the man who was not my choice, which confused me because they had zero chemistry. The man whom she did have chemistry with (my choice of course!) was a constant character but not in the way in which I wanted, which I found quite frustrating.

There are some **SPOILERS** ahead here

This continues on for pretty much all of the book and then in the last two pages, it does a neat 180 so that Julia ends up with my preferred character. But there is no build up, there are no interesting moments between the two of them, there is no indication that it’s going to happen because so much time is spent on Julia and a blossoming ‘fauxmance’ with this other character. It made the actual resolution feel really clunky and rushed, because this is not exactly a short novel and I felt that more could’ve been done with Julia and her eventual love interest at different stages throughout the novel. It felt like a lot of pages for about a paragraph of pay off, which is definitely not enough.

End **SPOILERS**

I enjoyed the actual story though, delving into Mariana’s past was interesting, like all of the past situations in Kearsley’s novels. I saw a few similarities between this book and The Winter Sea in the way the trips into the past were conducted and it seems that these  protagonists are always lucky enough to find someone to confide in who believes them about their historical journeys! I always find the historical aspect of these fascinating and this one was no different, even though the plot wasn’t quite as exciting in terms of war or action or drama as other trips into the past in Kearsley’s novels. It was simply an enjoyable read, but it took me about a week to get through this one, reading a couple of chapters before bed each night, rather than just devouring it in a day.

6/10

Book #140 of 2011

The Shadowy Horses – Susanna Kearsley

Verity Grey has been hired on an archaeological dig in Scotland run by a rather eccentric man named Peter Quinnell who is convinced he has found the resting place of the Ninth Legion, a group of Roman soldiers whose final movements are shrouded in mystery and a subject of differing academic opinions. Verity will be well paid for her contribution and although she is warned by former flame Adam, who is always working on the dig, that things are a bit ‘out of the ordinary’ around here, she takes the job, charmed by Peter. She gives her London flat over to her younger sister and packs for an extended stay in Scotland, Eyemouth to be exact.

Upon arriving for her stay she discovers that things are not quite what they seem. Peter has to prove that there is due cause for a dig in order to hire students for the summer and Verity notices that Adam has ‘fudged’ one of the ground penetrating radar scans. What’s even more surprising is that the reason Peter is choosing to dig in the precise location they’re digging in is due to a local 9yo child who has a gift – he’s psychic. And not only can he usually glean what someone is thinking, he also sees the ghost of one of the Roman soldiers and can hear him. Although the Sentinel speaks in Latin, so Robbie (the child) cannot understand him, nor can he actually speak to the Sentinel. But Robbie is convinced the dig will bear fruit and that’s enough for Peter, who is a great believer in his gift.

Verity is skeptical but even she can eventually not deny what Robbie knows. She can speak and understand Latin and a small group of them use Robbie to speak to the Sentinel but all they can glean is some kind of ominous warning and the fact that the Sentinel feels vaguely protective towards Verity because she reminds him of someone. Verity thinks back to the cold shivers she has occasionally felt, the sounds of footsteps when no one has been there and how she has seen Robbie’s dog Kip bouncing along as if he were walking beside a man. She becomes a firm believer in Robbie’s gift at least.

Despite all the divine intervention showing them where to dig and giving them a bit of an idea of the history behind the Ninth, there is still clearly someone around who doesn’t want this dig to be successful. And they are willing to put people’s lives at risk just to accomplish their goal.

The Shadowy Horses is the third Susanna Kearsley book I’ve read now (and I currently have two more of hers out from the library). I started with The Winter Sea and loved it and then read her most recent novel, The Rose Garden. I’m going back to read some of her older works now – this one was published in 1998. I’ve become a little bit addicted to the way in which Kearsley writes.

This one felt slower paced to me and although the build up wasn’t boring, nor did it make me wonder when action was going to start, I was still quite a way into the book before things started to happen. A lot of time was spent introducing the various characters who were going to play a role and establishing relationships (or potential relationships). That’s okay though, because Kearsley is pretty gifted at creating really likable obvious romantic love interests and this novel was no exception! It’s pretty easy to tell from very early on in the novel how things are going to go romantically but I always enjoy the journey that Kearsley takes the reader on to get there. I thought the characters in this novel were exceptionally well fleshed out – from our main character and narrator Verity, down to the spoiled granddaughter of Peter and the young boy with the gift of second sight.

I’m quite a skeptic – I don’t believe in ghosts, or psychics, or anything like that so Susanna Kearsley novels are always require a lot of me suspending my natural inclination to be dismissive of the sorts of elements they contain: ghosts, time travel, dreaming/re-living a long-dead ancestor’s memories and no doubt many more that I haven’t come across yet. It’s a testament to the way in which she weaves a story that I have no trouble doing it. I’m always engrossed in these books from the first page until the last and rarely, if ever, do I put them aside for my practical side to ponder or rationalize certain events. All I’m concerned about when I start one, is turning pages! In fact I started this one at about 10.30 at night, which was a bad idea as I’ve been tired enough lately without books keeping me up into the wee hours. I kept bargaining with myself ‘just until the end of the next chapter’ but then I would find myself halfway through the next chapter without even realising it.

I find these books a little difficult to review sometimes, as I do with all books I really love, particularly when they’re by an author I’ve come to really enjoy because I’m never sure how to balance praise without heading into overly gushing territory! This one probably isn’t my favourite – I think The Winter Sea holds that title – but it would definitely not be very far behind. I love reading books set in Scotland. Maybe it’s my vaguely Scottish ancestry (I have to go back some 6-7 generations, but I look like I could’ve just arrived from Stirling). The setting in this one is brilliantly rendered – I felt like I was right there amongst the dig, hearing the dialects, experiencing the weather. Maybe it’s no coincidence that my two favourite novels of Kearsley are both set in Scotland and it is a location she seems very fond of!

8/10

Book #114 of 2011

The Rose Garden – Susanna Kearsley

After reading The Winter Sea I was pretty happy to find out that Susanna Kearsley had a new novel coming out. I pre-ordered this through the Book Depository but I think I missed the first run they had in stock and had to wait until more came in. It finally arrived on Monday and although I know I should’ve set it aside and opened Antony & Cleopatra, which is my next university text, I…didn’t. Instead I read this, knowing that it would just sing to me until I did and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on A&C.

Eva has just buried her actress sister Katrina and is a bit lost in life. Her job in publicity revolved around Katrina and now that she’s gone, Eva finds that there’s nothing to tie her to LA anymore, where she had been living. Her parents were killed in a car accident in Canada some years ago and Bill, Katrina’s husband has entrusted Katrina’s ashes to Eva. Katrina wanted them scattered but didn’t specify where and Bill thinks that Eva will best decide where they should go. Eva thinks long and hard about it, finally choosing Trelowarth in Cornwall England, where as children, Katrina and Eva spent summers with the Hallet family. Eva hasn’t been there in twenty years but she’s sure that this is the place that felt most like home and so she ties up her loose ends in LA and makes the trek back to England.

The Hallets have occupied Trelowarth, a huge dwelling set on a clifftop, since the eighteenth century. They breed roses, traditional varieties and the extensive grounds are given over to this occupation. As Eva settles back in to Trelowarth as a guest, trying to find some peace with Katrina’s death and her own stalled life, she suddenly finds the surroundings of Trelowarth as she knows it blending and changing into something that is familiar but not quite. She realises that she has stepped back in time to the early 1700’s, before the Hallets came to Trelowarth. Instead a man named Daniel Butler is in residence, and Eva finds herself drawn to him. Daniel is involved in some dangerous activities including supporting the exiled King James Stuart. He and his brother Jack run a ship, the Sally between England and France, importing and exporting and avoiding the local constable who is determined to find evidence of their doings.

Eva eventually comes to accept that she is slipping between the here and the now and 1715. It can happen at any time and she has no control over it. Thankfully, no matter how long she spends in the past, when she returns to the present, no time has elapsed. But she can be gone days from 1715, or longer, before she is swept back. Eva is drawn completely to Daniel, and soon she begins to feel more at home in the past than she is in her own time. She has to decide where she wants to be and if it can even be at all possible.

I’ve only read one Susanna Kearsley novel before this and there’s something comforting about them. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but they are perfect to bunk down with on the couch under a blanket and ignore the world for the day. And that’s pretty much what I did. At 470-odd pages, this novel is definitely no quick read but the pages just flew by and it never felt like I was deeply involved in a book of this size.

Eva is grieving for her sister when she decides to return to a place they haven’t been since their childhood. Welcomed with open arms by Mark and Susan Hallet, the brother and sister currently in residence, and their stepmother Claire who lives out in a cottage on the grounds, Eva decides to make herself useful while she’s staying there as a guest to help Susan with her ambition to open a teahouse. Fueled by Claire’s romantic story of how her grandparents met in one, Susan has decided that the abandoned greenhouse would be a perfect location and that the venture just might help pull Trelowarth out of the financial hole it has been sliding into over the last few years. She builds them a website and it’s while working in Mark and Susan’s late fathers office that she finds herself back 300 years, but still in the same room. At first she thinks Daniel isn’t real, something that amuses him greatly and after she returns to her own time she becomes convinced that she’s hallucinating. She has been prescribed some sleeping tablets by a doctor for her trouble sleeping and she decides they must be the culprit…but the ‘hallucinations’ continue after she stops taking the tablets.

Eva’s acceptance of her time travel is quite swift but really there’s no other option but to accept it. She clearly is in a different time and during her current time, is able to research a bit about the Butler brothers with the assistance of a local named Oliver. She once threw a rock at him when they were children, hitting him on the forehead. Oliver, all grown up now, runs a small museum in to village near to Trelowarth and makes no secret of the fact that he has never forgotten Eva. Eva is more drawn to the mysterious Daniel of the past though and it seems that he is equally as drawn to Eva.

Once again Susanna Kearsley has woven a beautiful and clever novel (which will become very apparent to the reader towards the end, after a moment of utter WOW!) with wonderful and rich characters. Eva is a grieving sister searching for her place in life, only to find out that it may be in a totally different time. Mark, Susan, Claire and Oliver are lovely secondary characters who help breathe life into the surroundings and the story itself. I changed my mind three different times throughout this story how I wanted it to end, who I wanted Eva to end up with and each time I changed it I lost no love for my previous scenario and to be honest, no ending could’ve disappointed me, which says something. Daniel and Jack, from 1715 are gentlemanly and dashing respectively and in the case of Fergal, the sort of character that every girl needs to have on her side. There’s nothing he doesn’t know, nor is there any assistance he cannot offer! The vile local constable provides an eerie villain who worries the reader for the safety of our 18th century heroes.

Definitely glad I have discovered this author. I’ve checked out an older book of hers from the library – going through her back catalogue as much as I can find!

8/10

Book #89 of 2011

The Winter Sea – Susanna Kearsley

A little back story before the review:

Sometime last year Marg from Adventures of an Intrepid Reader and I discovered during a twitter #spbkchat that we lived within 10 minutes of each other in adjoining suburbs. It took us a while to organise meeting in person but in January we met for lunch with another local book blogger/bookstore owner. I happened to mention that I found a challenge Marg and her friend were undertaking, where they choose books for each other to read, interesting so Marg issued me with a strong recommendation to read this novel, The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. I requested it from our local library but it was checked out and not due back until about the 12th February so I settled in to wait. And wait. And wait! Finally it was returned to the library on the 12th of March.

So, having finally acquired the novel, I dived into it. Our main character Carrie is a historical fiction author currently researching a novel set in 1707/08 Scotland and the failed Jacobite invasion. She was researching in France and struggling to make the novel come together when she arrives in Scotland to visit her agent for her son’s christening. She takes a detour and finds Slains Castle. From the moment she first sees it, she is captivated and realises that in order to complete this novel, she must be living in Scotland and writing from a Scottish characters perspective. She returns to France, packs up her things and then arrives back in Scotland, letting a small cottage near to the castle from one of the cheerful, lovely locals. She decides to insert one of her ancestors, Sophia in to the story simply as a fictional character through whom she can gain perspective without having to actually write from the point of view of a real historical figure.

After she makes this decision, she is swept away with memories and scenes, sometimes appearing as dreams, sometimes as day dreams and she finds that she is writing faster than she has ever written before. To her surprise, she knows the layout of Slains Castle perfectly, she recalls historical facts and details before even beginning to research them and she names characters in her story only to find out that they were real and did indeed exist and in the roles she has given them. What started out as a way to use her ancestor has turned into Carrie realising that she seems to have stumbled upon a real story that has manifested in a way that made her think she was writing fiction. Now she thinks that she has acquired Sophia’s memories and really is writing the event as it actually occurred, from the point of view of someone who was there to witness it.

Add in the colourful and friendly locals (including two very different and intriguing brothers) and Carrie’s life is definitely taking a turn for the more interesting in Scotland. Not only is she crafting a novel that she knows could be her finest to date, she’s also finding that sometimes life imitates art and her enigmatic hero of the novel is sharing more characteristics with the academic professor she met on the beach.

From the time Carrie sees Slains Castle in the novel, I knew I was going to love this book. Part of the reason Marg suggested this novel to me is that she’s a big fan of historical fiction and it’s not a genre I’ve really had much experience in reading other than the odd Philippa Gregory, etc. This novel is both contemporary and historical and both time periods are enjoyable and the transition between them is smooth and effortless. I appreciated always knowing whether or not I was in Carrie’s head or if it was when she was writing about Sophia because there’s nothing worse for me, than jerky character transition. Kearsley creates a parallel of stories that are both similar and yet different and I was eager to learn more about both!

Because I did only geography in high school, I find my history knowledge is severely lacking. I don’t know much about Scottish history, despite being of Scottish extraction (although admittedly, I think you need to go back some eight generations to find the first ancestor born in Scotland!) so this book was quite an interesting history lesson as well. As a novel, it tells the attempted invasion in a story rather than as a dry text which is definitely more fascinating to read! And after finishing this book I found a series airing on TV called A History of Scotland which has an episode which deals with a fair few of the events in this novel so I have to remember to record that one! I’m finding that reading these sorts of novels is a good way to fill some gaps in my education, although you have to be careful as authors do take liberties – but I find reading about a scenario such as this leads me to research it further upon completion of the book so I’m learning and reading awesome stories at the same time!

The Scottish weather is a huge part of the novel (in both sections) with Slain Castle being set on a cliff overlooking a foamy grey sea and Carrie renting a cottage near the beach and tramping through mists and rain on a regular basis. I actually looked up Scotland’s Wikipedia page on completing the novel (more research!) and discovered that the highest temperature ever recorded in Scotland is 32 degrees Celsius and that maximum summer temperatures average around 18 degrees Celsius which would be a rather lovely winter’s day here! That rather killed all my romantic ideas of living in a small cottage on a Scottish cliff one day!

Normally time travelling/psychic stuff/dead ancestor’s memories/etc isn’t my sort of thing. But I have to admit, I enjoyed every aspect of this novel. Some characters are more deeply drawn than others but they’re all very engaging to read about and the romances in both timelines were ones that thoroughly hooked me. I could’ve finished this novel in one sitting if I’d been brave enough but being 14wks pregnant and having a 2yo I really can’t stay up until 3-4am these days reading books anymore! I need my sleep! So I had to set it aside and turn out the light and then pick it up and finish it the next day when my son was having his nap and my partner was at work and I knew I wouldn’t be interrupted. It’s just that sort of book.

And the ending? Perfect!

8/10

Book #35 of 2011