The Winter Sea - Susanna Kearsley

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⭐ 8.5/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

Carrie is a historical novelist who's doing research in Scotland when she becomes drawn to a specific castle. She decides to stay in the area to write her book, but as she works on it she finds that everything she's writing really happened in the past to her ancestor during the Jacobite uprising. Just like all of Kearsley's books, there's a double plot as we find out what happened to Sophia in the past, and how Carrie deals with the revelations in the present.

This book has a fantastic sense of place in both timelines, and it felt just like I was in an old castle on the coast of Scotland in the winter. I can't even imagine how much research the author must have done, because in the past timeline, most of the characters were real people, so I learned a ton about Scottish history. There's also a solid dash of romance in both timelines, and that bit of magical realism. It's a pretty long book, and it takes its time unraveling the story, but I never really felt bored. The town and castle are both real, and I'd love to visit them in person one day, and take this book with me.

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