{"id":3840,"date":"2021-04-11T04:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/?p=3840"},"modified":"2021-05-03T15:22:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T15:22:33","slug":"book-talk-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/book-talk-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Talk Sunday: The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sundays seem like a good time to talk about the books I’ve read! And so begins Book Talk Sunday. I’m not going to give ratings, or stars, or gold crowns. I’m just going to offer a few of my thoughts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Published:  2021 by Simon & Schuster (Originally Published in 2008)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Length: 528 pages<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Series: Slains, Book 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Categories: Fiction \/ Historical \/ Romance<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tags: Scottish \/ Jacobite \/ Time Slip \/ Genetic Memory \/ Time Travel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Blurb:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1707<\/em>. The walls of Slains castle shelter Jacobite rebels, who are conspiring to sail the young, exiled James Stewart from France into Scotland to reclaim his crown\u2014and a young woman caught up in their plot.

Present day<\/em>. Writer Carrie McClelland is enchanted by an impromptu trip to Cruden Bay, Scotland, and decides to settle in the tiny village, hoping to find inspiration for her novel about the Jacobite uprising in the area\u2019s evocative past\u2014and in the haunting ruins of the castle.

She creates a heroine named after one of her own ancestors, Sophia Paterson, and quickly finds the words flowing, almost faster than she can write them down. But, discovering that her novel inexplicably contains more fact than she can remember researching, Carrie wonders if she could possibly be dealing with ancestral memory\u2014in effect \u201crecalling\u201d what her ancestor lived.

The only way to discover the truth is to continue writing and to bring to light the whole of Sophia\u2019s story. With each new chapter, Carrie uncovers the tale of an innocent entangled in a dangerous enterprise, the secret of forbidden love, and the final betrayal that cost James his throne\u2014and may cost Sophia her heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Thoughts:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s probably no surprise that I can’t resist a book who’s main character is a writer. In The Winter Sea Carrie McClelland is busy writing her latest book and has created a character she names after an ancestor that lived in 1707 Scotland. When a brief research trip takes her to Cruden Bay, she feels compelled to stay and rents a cottage. Nearby are the remains of Slains Castle that overlooks the North Sear from its cliff top. The story pours out of her and Carrie soon realizes she knows more details than she should about her long-ago relation\u2019s life, that she has, in fact, inherited her memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The characters, both 18th<\/sup> century and 21st<\/sup> century, are richly developed by an author who clearly loves and respects history. The shift in time between the present, written in 1st<\/sup> person, and the 1700s, written is 3rd<\/sup> person, makes for seamless reading. Both time periods are brought to life by the characters, setting, plot, and Kearsley\u2019s attention to detail. I also love how Kearsley handles the idea of Carrie inheriting her ancestor\u2019s genetic memory. It is a type of time travel that fascinates me. There is always some sort of mystical element to Kearsley’s books that draws me right in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved the relationship between Sophie and Moray that takes place in the past. It\u2019s a very slow burn, as much of the emphasis is placed on what is happening around the character and the historical efforts of the Jacobites to return a Stewart King to the throne in Scotland. The relationship between Sophie and Moray is much more nuanced than the relationship between Carrie and Graham in the present. Both are sweet, both are engaging, but the earlier one is definitely given preference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was entertaining, informative, and gorgeously written. I don\u2019t know what more you can ask of a book. Definitely recommend if you are drawn to historicals that take place outside of Victorian and Regency England. Susanna Kearsley\u2019s books would definitely appeal to fans of Diana Gabaldon\u2019s Outlander series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, it\u2019s always Susanna Kearsley’s love of detail, her warm writing, and the mystical part of her books that keeps me turning pages, even when there\u2019s a daunting 528 of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An overhead view of Slains Castle, which is also said to be the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s setting in\u00a0Count Dracula<\/em>. In a tweet Kearsley explains where the main rooms mentioned in The Winter’s Sea could be found. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Have you read The Winter Sea or any other of Susanna Kearsley’s books? What did you think of them? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sundays seem like a good time to talk about the books I’ve read! And so begins Book Talk Sunday. I’m not going to give ratings, or stars, or gold crowns. I’m just going to offer a few of my thoughts. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[812,813,815,114,17],"tags":[726,466,817,599,724,816,818],"class_list":["post-3840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-talk-sunday","category-canadian-author","category-historical","category-reviews","category-romance","tag-canadian-author","tag-fiction","tag-historical","tag-romance","tag-susanna-kearsley","tag-the-winter-sea","tag-womens-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\nBook Talk Sunday: The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - karyngood.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/book-talk-sunday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Talk Sunday: The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - karyngood.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sundays seem like a good time to talk about the books I’ve read! 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