Title: The Winter Sea
Author: Susanna Kearsley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
ISBN: 978-1-4022-41337-6
Format: Trade Paperback
$16.99
How I read it: Trade Paperback ARC
Rating: 5 Crowns Royal Read
My review:
Carrie McClelland is a writer of historical fiction. Her new goal is to turn the events surrounding the often-overlooked Jacobite Rising of 1708 into a bestselling novel. Living in France at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to be closer to Nathaniel Hooke, whom she deemed the perfect hero for her story to evolve around, yet she does not truly feel the flow of the story. That is until she journey’s to Scotland for the Christening of her friend/agents baby boy. Feeling the pull of the ruins of Slains Castle and the characters within she moves to Cruden Bay. Once their her story begins to flow, although now that she has begun writing, she wonders who’s story it truly is. As the characters begin to speak Carrie is envisioning or perhaps remembering memories that belong to someone else thus making her wonder if ancestral memory is a possibility.
I have numerous books pertaining to the Jacobite Risings, yet this is the first that I have read that featured the ‘08, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The way the events of both the past and present are intertwined in “The Winter Sea” made me set up and take interest.
I fell in love with this book from the beginning although I will admit I love reading anything regarding the Jacobites. I loved every part of it. The characters. The plot. The story within the story. Each page I devoured only made me want to read the next one and the next one. I found Susanna Kearsley’s writing to be highly engaging, and I strongly recommend this book.
“The Winter Sea”, has to be my favorite book of the year, and I am hoping that the ending of the book eludes to a possible follow-up.
Please note that this book was released in England as "Sophia's Secret:
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4 comments:
A new one for me! Thank you for the review.
Great review -- I couldn't agree more! The Winter Sea was my favorite novel for this year.
This one has been on my TBR list for awhile, I'm so glad to hear you liked it! I'm also interested in the Jacobite risings, and pleased to see something written about this one...so many are about the '45.
Thanks for the great review :)
Mystica,
This was an amazing book, you will definitely have to check it out.
Joanne,
I fell in love with this book. It had amazing writing that will stick with me forever. Didn't you love the story the Captain Graeme told about the Winter Sea?
Have you read HERE BURNS MY CANDLE by Liz Curtis Higgs? If not you should check it out it features the '45 Rising, but it has the same heart and emotion as THE WINTER SEA.
Crystal,
My ancestors supported the Stuarts claim, and some even fought along side the Bonnie Prince in the battle of Culloden, so I feel a strong connection to the Jacobites and their plight. If I lived back in those days, I believe that I too would have been a Jacobite.
It is refreshing to see that she selected the '08 to write about. I have read many books pertaining to the '15 and the '45, but this is the first work of Historical Fiction that I have read pertaining to the '08.
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