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The Winter Sea
Susanna Kearsley
Hardcover and Trade Paperback
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Cover Illustration by unknown artist
UK Release Date:
March 24, 2008.
Canadian Release
Date: May 2008
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Cover Blurb:
A DARK TIME IN SCOTTISH HISTORY MAKES WAY FOR A TALE OF COURAGE AND
PASSION THAT WILL SPAN CENTURIES AND RETURN TO HAUNT THE PRESENT.
* * *
The past won't let you
forget ...
When bestselling author
Carrie McClelland visits the ruins of Slains Castle in Scotland to
research her new book, she is unprepared for the magnetic pull the
local area has on her. Enchanted by the stark and beautiful
Scottish landscape, she rents an old stone cottage nears the windswept
ruins and decides to set her new historical novel at the castle itself.
History has all but forgotten the spring of 1708, when an invasion
fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the
exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown. Realising
one of her own ancestors, Sophia Paterson, lived around the same time,
Carrie creates a fictional life for Sophia and places her at Slains to
be narrator for the events leading to the Jacobite uprising. It
is a time seething with political unrest and there is no shortage of
spies and clandestine meetings at Slains. Soon, the characters in
her book come alive with almost frightening intensity and Carrie is
shocked when she learns that Sophia was indeed a resident of the castle
at the time. When further coincidences confirm her fiction is
closer to fact, Carrie realises that this story is not entirely her
own. As Sophia's memories draw Carrie more deeply into the
intrigue of 1708, she comes to understand that a hitherto unrealised
bond with her ancestor is providing her with an immediate window into
the true events of the time -- and the two women have more in common
than one might think.
Mesmerizing and rich in historical detail, The Winter Sea is a haunting tale
of two women's experiences of love and personal betrayal in two very
different times.
About the Author
Susanna Kearsley inherited
ger love of genealogy from her father, The past and its bearing
on the present is a familiar theme in her books. She was a
curator at a museum for some years before she took the plunge and
became a full-time author. A prestigious book award for the
immensely popular Mariana confirmed
her choice in career and she has gone on to publish a total of seven
books under the name Susanna Kearsley [Karen: eight now, including The Winter Sea]. Her recent
venture into thriller writing has produced the equally riveting title Every Secret Thing, written under
the pseudonym Emma Cole.
Excerpt from the
Author's Note
" I ... think of James VIII
and III in his old age ... dreaming of the northern coast of Scotland
and the proud red walls of Slains as he'd once seen them from the sea,
and of the crown that must have, for that moment, seemed so nearly
within reach."
Dedication:
To My Father:
You asked me once to write for you a story
you could love as much as you loved Mariana,
so...
For all that you have given me,
and all that you have helped me be,
this book is yours,
with love.
Introductory Poetry:
E. J. Pratt, "On the Shore"
Karen's Thoughts:
(May
Contain Spoilers)
January 22, 2009
When people have asked me to name my favourite Susanna Kearsley book, I
always had the same answer: "The
Splendour Falls, and my second favourite is The Shadowy Horses." Well,
folks, I have a new answer now.
It took me some time to really begin reading this book, not because of
the story contained within, but because I was worried about taking it
down from my shelf. As a surprise birthday gift, Susanna sent me
a hardcover copy, signed with her birthday wishes, last March, two
months before the Canadian release date. I didn't want anything
to happen to it, so I hesitated to take it anywhere with me.
Well, four days ago, I decided to buy the trade paperback version, and
I've had my nose buried in it since. I literally just finished
reading it a little over an hour ago, and I'm still grinning. You
know how a Susanna Kearsley book draws you in, weaves the story in
around you like a warm blanket, and you are reluctant to let it
go? The Winter Sea does
that and more.
In the tradition of Susanna Kearsley's novels, The Winter Sea weaves together the
past and the present, deftly telling two connected stories at once,
each story intriguing in its own right, but with the interplay between
them making both stories so much more. It's probably particularly
fitting that, as I struggle to describe this relationship, I am
picturing the twisted strands that make up DNA.
There were so many things I enjoyed about this book, but I really
hesitate to say too much, lest I ruin it for anyone else who has not
yet had the pleasure of reading it. So here are just a few items:
- In The Winter Sea,
Carrie finds herself experiencing déja
vu, or echoes of what has come before. The dedicated
Kearsley reader will find herslef experiencing that as well. For
example, when needing to be alone with her thoughts, Sophia often goes
to the stable to talk to the horses, as did Karen in The Gemini Game. There were
several other instances where I found myself nodding at the vaguely
familiar, but that is the one that stands out now.
- Her sense of characterization has really gotten
stronger with each book. I don't know how she managed to keep the
number of characters, past and present, straight, let alone make them
live and breathe. With the exception of one character (who was
evil personified, so perhaps he would have been one of those people in
real life without much dimension anyway), these characters feel like
"real people". You care about them, question their motives,
disapprove, cheer them on ... From the standpoint of someone else who
writes, I am completely blown away by how much dimension is there.
- There are some thoroughly touching scenes, and I
won't lie to you: I cried -- four times. (Read the book and
see if you can guess when.) Some authors set you up for the
required tearjerker, and those ones never get me. My emotions
resent being manipulated, and refuse to play. But four times I
caught myself misting up, and one time it was so obvious, my dog
thought I was wounded. That's saying something.
I can say, without any hesitation, that The Winter Sea is Susanna
Kearsley's best work to date. She just keeps getting better.
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