Some houses seem to want to hold their secrets.
It’s 1759 and the world is at war, pulling the North American colonies of Britain and France into the conflict. The times are complicated, as are the loyalties of many New York merchants who have secretly been trading with the French for years, defying Britain’s colonial laws in a game growing ever more treacherous.
When captured French officers are brought to Long Island to be billeted in private homes on their parole of honour, it upends the lives of the Wilde family—deeply involved in the treasonous trade and already divided by war.
Lydia Wilde, struggling to keep the peace in her fracturing family following her mother’s death, has little time or kindness to spare for her unwanted guests. And Canadian lieutenant Jean-Philippe de Sabran has little desire to be there. But by the war’s end they’ll both learn love, honour, and duty can form tangled bonds that are not broken easily.
Their doomed romance becomes a local legend, told and re-told through the years until the present day, when conflict of a different kind brings Charley Van Hoek to Long Island to be the new curator of the Wilde House Museum.
Charley doesn’t believe in ghosts. But as she starts to delve into the history of Lydia and her French officer, it becomes clear that the Wilde House holds more than just secrets, and Charley discovers the legend might not have been telling the whole story...or the whole truth.
Kindle Edition
Published
April 24th 2018
by Simon & Schuster Canada
Genre: Historical Fiction
Kristine's Thoughts:
** I received an advanced readers copy from Simon & Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!**
Susanna Kearsley has been one of my "go to" authors for some time now. I am a huge fan of stories that weave between the past and present. This is something that Kearsley does exceptionally well and she always seems to deliver a fantastic read in the historical fiction genre. Although fictional, I always learn a little bit of history with each book as well.
I read this story some time ago as did my sister ( her thoughts have already been posted) but family circumstances did not allow me to write out my thoughts right away. This unfortunately means that my thoughts on it aren't as fresh and I may not be giving it all the credit it deserves.
Bellewether weaved between past and present telling the story of Charley and Lydia. Charley was the curator of the Wilde House Museum in the present and Lydia was an occupant of that house back in 1759. When Charley discovered the possibility of a forbidden and tragic love story between Lydia and a french officer the story slowly unfolded.
I am usually always a fan of the historical aspect of these types of books and only sometimes a fan of the present day story. In Bellewether I was a fan of both and was equally interested in how Lydia and Charley's stories would play out. This of course made for some fast moving pages and I remember getting through it rather quickly. Each story had a romantic component that I gobbled up.
One thing I have to say about this book is that I found it to be a little more simplistic than some of her past books. In no way do I mean that in a bad way. All I mean is that the historical aspect didn't seem as complex, confusing or hard to understand as some of her others. It was easy to wrap my head around.
After reading Bellewether I remembered why I make a point of reading all of Susanna Kearsley's books. She never fails to deliver exactly what I'm looking for. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this book.
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