The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown (Guest Review)

“Dual timeline” novels are quite popular these days, but The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton adds another twist. Jennifer Brown alternates a past-tense narrative set in the 16th century with a present-tense story in which, yes, a historian is searching for a lost book – but also is involved in a classic thriller, with eight people in an old, isolated manor house amid increasing menace. Both parts are well done and make for a compelling read.

“Change Your Life for €1,” the headline had read . . .

When she was at her lowest emotionally, Skye saw a competition to win a cottage in Greece for one euro, and entered. How she won and how the paperwork was completed quickly and without publicity requires some suspension of disbelief but, why not, every book needs a plot, and apparently this is an actual thing:

Tapestry by Fiona McIntosh

Jane is a pragmatic Brit who met a handsome American in Cornwall five months ago and was swept off her feet. Despite being newly engaged, she has doubts about whether her fiancé, Will Maxwell, is The One, despite his good looks and devotion. When a freak accident leaves him in a coma, she feels guilty for her wavering commitment and tries to compensate by exploring various New Agey solutions, one of which catapults her from 1978 London to 1715 Scotland, married to Will’s ancestor, Lord Nithsdale. 

The Song of Hartgrove Hall by Natasha Solomons

This dual timeline novel moves back and forth from post WWII to the early 21st century, following the youngest of three brothers over the course of his life as he seeks love and music.

The Light Over London by Julia Kelly - a dual timeline novel set during WWII

Title: The Light Over London
Author: Julia Kelly
Publication: Gallery Books, trade paperback, 2019
Genre: Historical fiction (mostly)
Setting: WWII and present-day Great Britain

Description: This dual timeline novel begins in 2017 in the Cotswolds as Cara Hargraves, not only newly and painfully divorced but also having recently lost both parents, has taken a job with an antique dealer. As she and her boss assess the estate of an elderly lady, Cara finds a hidden diary from World War II in a dusty armoire.

Forbidden Promise by Lorna Cook - a downed airman in Scotland leads to a family rupture

Title: Forbidden Promise
Author: Lorna Cook
Publication: Avon UK, paperback, 2020
Genre: Dual time line fiction
Setting: WWII and present-day Scotland

Description: Constance McLay is a sheltered 21-year-old when she escapes a groping guest at her birthday party and takes refuge at the loch behind her family’s lovely home, Invermoray House.

The English Wife by Adrienne Chinn – historical fiction that begins in WWII England and leads to isolated Newfoundland

Title: The English Wife
Author: Adrienne Chinn
Publication: One More Chapter, trade paperback, 2020
Genre: Dual-timeline fiction
Setting: England and Newfoundland

Description: This is a story of two sisters living in Norwich during World War II and their descendants.  Ellie has always planned to marry her childhood friend George until she meets an outgoing Canadian soldier from Newfoundland.  Her sister Dottie disapproves because she doesn’t want Ellie to move away and her father disapproves because George is not Catholic, but Tom persuades her to tie the knot before he gets sent overseas.   

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

Title: Those Who Save Us 
Author: Jenna Blum

Publication: Harcourt, Trade Paperback, 2004

Genre: Historical Fiction

This is the seventh of twelve books that are part of my 2019 TBR Challenge, inspired by Roof Beam Reader, to prioritize some of my unread books.

Plot: In this dual time frame novel, the author moves back and forth from 1993 Minnesota where Trudy Swenson is a tenured professor of German History, who just lost her stepfather, and World War II Germany where Trudy’s mother, lovely Anna Brandt, grew up in an atmosphere of fear and repression, forced to desperate measures to stay alive and protect her small daughter. 

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

Title: A Fall of Marigolds
Author: Susan Meissner
Publication: Penguin, trade paper, 2014
Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction
TBR Challenge: This is the third book I have read from the 2019 Challenge, created by Roof Beam Reader.

Plot: In this novel, Meissner weaves together two tragedies, nearly 100 years apart yet connected by an unusual scarf of marigold-patterned Indian fabric. Taryn Michaels is a textile expert who lost her husband on 9/11 just as she was about to meet him at Windows on the World to tell him she was pregnant, while Clara Wood is a nurse who, back in 1911, witnessed the horror of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

The Woman in the Lake by Nicola Cornick

Title: The Woman in the Lake

Author: Nicola Cornick

Publication: Graydon House, trade paperback, 2019

Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction

Plot: Fenella Brightwell, in present day, has rebuilt her life after a disastrous marriage, leaving London for Swindon, not far from where she grew up.   When her grandmother dies, Fenella receives a sumptuous gold silk dress that she had impulsively stolen on a visit to a stately home as a teen.  The dress had belonged to Lady Isabella Gerard in 1765, herself trapped in a vicious and loveless marriage, and has become an ill-omened garment that exacerbates out the worst attributes in those who touch it.    Somehow Fenella time slipped across the centuries to encounter Lord Gerard and snatch the dress from his obsessed grasp.   However, Fenella’s possession of the dress is not happy: it makes her kleptomania worse and she starts to feel she is being watched.  As she recognizes parallels between her life and Isabella’s, she begins to fight for her own new life and happiness.  

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley (book review)

Susanna Kearsley is such a gifted writer I cannot figure out why her books are not better known. I sometimes wonder if it is because she is Canadian and there has been no major publicity machine behind her (as Alex Beam noted in the Globe today, although there are talented Canadian authors their bookstore bestsellers are all US imports). Like Mary Stewart (although perhaps without her warm humor), Kearsley creates a vivid sense of place and as Stewart did in Touch Not the Cat, she moves effortlessly from present to past, telling each story so compellingly that the reader forgets there is any other. The Winter Sea is Kearsley’s best book since Mariana. The contemporary story is told in the first person by Carrie McClelland, a writer of historical fiction, trying to figure out how to approach her current topic, early 18th century Jacobite uprisings in Scotland and those behind the plots to restore the Old Pretender to his rightful throne. When Carrie visits her agent in Scotland, she accidentally (but we know there are no accidents in fiction!) finds her way to a ruined castle, Slains, and begins to experience vivid dreams that inspire her novel. Carrie’s visions or memories are of a distant ancestor, a quiet young woman, Sophia Paterson, an orphan who is taken into the household of the Mistress of Slains Castle, the Countess of Erroll, and becomes involved in the Scots’ plotting through the kind relatives who have given her a home. Sophia is recovering from family tragedy and remains somewhat emotionally detached from the intrigue until she falls in love with a man who has dedicated his life to the Jacobite cause. She is a fascinating character (more interesting, in fact, than her creator, Carrie).