On a
day too hot to go outside and with no urgent chores waiting, what could be
better than a tall iced coffee and a lush, fat historical novel? Kearsley’s The
Winter Sea turned out to be the right book on the right day. Carrie McClelland
goes to Scotland to research her latest book about the exiled Jacobites in the
early 18th century and their attempts to regain the English crown
for James Stewart. While there, her writer’s block not only dissolves, but the
words start flowing as if a dam has broken. While pleased with how well her
writing is going, she discovers she’s writing about real people and events she
has no recollection of researching. She had named the narrator of the story
Sophia, after an ancestor from her own family, but now it seems it’s Sophia’s
real life story she’s telling.
Moving
between the present and the early 1700’s, The Winter Sea sweeps the reader
along both Carrie’s and Sophia’s paths as each navigates her life and the world
around her.
Rich
in the history of a period and a quest often overlooked, this book was a
satisfying, entertaining, and magnetic reading experience. Suspend your
skepticism about “ancestral memory,” put your feet up, and let the dust bunnies
live another day – this book is worth it.
CAS
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