Publisher: 5th October 2021 by SOURCEBOOKS Landmark
Pages: 464 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: historical fiction, romance
My Rating: 4 crowns
Synopsis:
In the autumn of 1707, old enemies from the Highlands to the Borders are finding common ground as they join to protest the new Union with England. At the same time, the French are preparing to launch an invasion to bring the young exiled Jacobite king back to Scotland to reclaim his throne, and in Edinburgh the streets are filled with discontent and danger.
Queen Anne's commissioners, seeking to calm the situation, have begun paying out money sent up from London to settle the losses and wages owed to those Scots who took part in the disastrous Darien expedition eight years earlier--an ill-fated venture that left Scotland all but bankrupt.
When the young widow of a Darien sailor comes forward to collect her husband's wages, her claim is challenged. One of the men assigned to investigate has only days to decide if she's honest, or if his own feelings are blinding him to the truth.
The Vanished Days is a prequel and companion novel to The Winter Sea, with action that overlaps some of the action in that book. The Vanished Days goes back in time to the 1680s and introduces the reader to the Moray and Graeme families.
My Thoughts
What is there not to love about a new Susanna Kearsley book! Her stories are always fabulously written, well researched and captivating. When you open the pages of one of Susanna’s books, you enter into a new world, one that guarantees rich historical detail combined with fabulous drama. Her fans are excited as The Vanished Days is the prequel/companion to The Winter Sea (a book I read many years ago but still a firm favourite of mine). Needless to say, I was quite excited to read Susanna’s latest!
‘There had been so many moments in my life when my survival had depended on my trusting to my instincts that I’d gained a great respect for them’
The Vanished Days is set in Scotland during the late 1600's-early 1700's. Kearsley includes a dual timeline plot, however, this time around it is much closer - only 10-25 years apart. Therefore, it appears more of a companion to Winter Sea as it has a shared character and a similar time period. This can definitely be read as a stand-alone, yet how wonderful would it have been to read all three in this series together (The Winter Sea and its sequel, The Firebird).
“In life, you understand, we always say things that we later would take back - a careless insult, or a sharp word thrown in anger. We are none of us immune.”
As always Susanna has done a fabulous amount of research, and that definitely shows through her in-depth and vivid descriptions that bring history to life in her stories. It is probably for this reason that the book does start off somewhat slow, but persevere, once you get past a certain point it will be a race to the end. Wow! What a twist.
“That comes from Plato. His Symposium, in which he claims that every person has one - that we all were made originally whole, then sliced in half like flatfish, so we now must search the world for the one person who completes us.”
Susanna Kearsley is one of my favorite authors and I will always read anything and everything she writes. If you’ve never read one of her books and you are a fan of historical fiction, you simply must do yourself a favour. I jealousy envy you reading this Slains series sequentially - stories beautifully researched and written with characters that will touch your heart and stay with you long after the last chapter ends.
“You’re the first man I have loved,” she said, her voice not much above a whisper, and it was as though she knew I needed those words then. “The first man and the last man. You will always be enough for me.”
Visit Helen @ Great Reads & Tea Leaves
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
1 comment:
An author I like to go back to for re-reads as well. This was such a good read.
Post a Comment