The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

image by LibraryThing

Now this one I liked - a lot!

This builds on The Winter Sea and moves the story along. This is the story of Anna, Sophia's daughter.  Anna's life could have been a tragedy - given up at birth by her mother and raised by a neighbor and later sent to live with nuns and finally landing with a new family in Russia.  But it isn't a tragedy - instead it is the story of strength and poise and love.  Anna accepts each stage of her life for what it is and what she can learn from it. That sounds a little ridiculous, I know. But, I really liked her plucky attitude and stamina for a 1720 girl!

This story is told in pieces by Nikola - an English girl with a gift for 'seeing.'  Her connection to Anna is not through written words like Carrie's was - but by touching an object and 'seeing' the history and the events that the object was involved with.  Nikola is a Russian art dealer who was asked to appraise a small carved bird - the firebird. She sees the Tsarina of Russia handing this bird to Anna - but doesn't know who Anna is or how she can prove the object was actually important.

Nikola enlists her friend Rob to help with the process - Rob has a stronger inner eye and together they embark to Russia to discover Anna's story. In the same way that Winter Sea told a double story  - so does The Firebird. As the story of Anna is being told - Nikola and Rob's story is also unfolding.

I liked this book much more. I was very vested in the characters!  There were a couple twists that I didn't quite anticipate that made the end very engaging.  The history was important - but somehow it was easier for me to follow along without really knowing all the details.  Maybe that happened because I cared for Anna more.

I would recommend this one!  It was a fun and quick read.

Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

image from LibraryThing

I had high hopes for this book. I wanted something to remind me of Jamie and Claire in the Outlander Series.  But this didn't quite make it.  Had I read this first - I think it would have been fine. But my hopes were set a bit too high!!

This is the story of a writer (Carrie) researching the Slains Castle in Scotland for a book on the reinstatement of King James. She is mysteriously drawn to the castle as she works on the book - and discovers that her attention is taken by a young girl named Sophia.  A girl she 'sees' at the castle. No - not as a ghost.

Instead, Carrie is somehow channeling Sophia and watching the story unfold in front of her as the words flow from her fingers in her writing. That is interesting and all - but becomes a bit more unsettling when further research shows her that Sophia was a real person and actually was at the castle in the time frame she was writing about. It seems that Carrie has discovered a window into the past.  Add to that a love story unfolding both in the past at Slains and in Carrie's current life and this makes a pretty good story!

The book is a strong piece of history.  The people are real as are the events.  It does assume the reader has a rough understanding of Scottish history in the 1700s that I did not have. That made it a bit tricky to really appreciate the history.

Kearsley does a great job of creating scenes that draw the reader in and invite us to understand history through the characters' eyes.  But, I was just looking for a bit more I guess.