Susanna Kearsley covers her subject matter thoroughly. You can never rush thru the reading, there's too many little bits that will come into play down the road. If you've missed them, you'll be left scratching your head! This book, case in point!
Having said that, I had NO IDEA 'The Winter Sea' was part of a trilogy!!! That was the very first book of this authors I ever picked up and it made me an instant fan. 'The Vanished Days' was written out of order and now that the series is finished (I think??) and I know it's the prequel, I'm feeling motivated to reread the others in order. I read 'The Firebird' (3rd book) so far apart from 'The Winter Sea' that I didn't even connect the dots they were related. Definitely need a reread!!
This book is a return to form for Ms Kearsley. I've felt a few of her recent books were off the mark (like the last book 'Bellewether') but this one was fantastic. Stick with it, it's a slow building story but it unravels like a dream. There are times you want it to move along faster, but trust me, now I see all the pieces were necessary and worth the patience. The heroine grabbed my heart from the onset and the ending absolutely turned the book upside down. I had to read it twice!! Absolutely brilliant!!!
It's always interesting to see how a book title connects to the story & this one is beautiful. Touches on regrets which many of us have about decisions we've made in our lives. This quote I love, "I think often of the vanished days that Captain Gordon spoke about—the ones that are behind us that we cannot live again—and how he wished it might be possible to make the clock run backward so that we could live those days a second time, and live them better."
Lots of well researched Scottish history woven throughout the book (Jacobites, religious tensions, restitution from the Equivalent, the one attempt Scotland made at colony building, etc., etc.) which makes it as informative as it is engrossing.
4.5 Stars (maybe 5, I'm still considering...)
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