REVIEW: The Vanished Days by Susanna Kearsley
In the autumn of 1707, old enemies from the Highlands to the Borders are finding common ground as they join to protest the new Union with England. At the same time, the French are preparing to launch an invasion to bring the young exiled Jacobite king back to Scotland to reclaim his throne, and in Edinburgh the streets are filled with discontent and danger.
Queen Anne’s commissioners, seeking to calm the situation, have begun paying out money sent up from London to settle the losses and wages owed to those Scots who took part in the disastrous Darien expedition eight years earlier—an ill-fated venture that left Scotland all but bankrupt.
When the young widow of a Darien sailor comes forward to collect her husband’s wages, her claim is challenged. One of the men assigned to investigate has only days to decide if she’s honest, or if his own feelings are blinding him to the truth.
TW – attempted child sexual assault, probable past child sexual assault, planned child sexual assault (all by the villains)
Dear Ms. Kearsley,
After reading Kaetrin’s lovely review of this book I almost feel like writing “What she said,” only I know I can’t get away with that. So I will refer readers to the blurb here and her review for the background details of the plot and I’ll jump straight into my thoughts. Yep, going second does have its benefits!
Unlike many of your other books the dual timeline of “The Vanished Days” is separated by less than a decade rather than by hundreds of years. Despite the fact that I will undoubtedly read more books with this more widely spaced sort of timeline, I must admit to being tired of so many recently written historical fiction books that make use of this device, usually with the modern heroine seeking to uncover some long held secret from the past. Ennui has crept in for me. When I realized that this book would not feature that, I rejoiced.
I loved the historical details and “feel” of the book. It has a leisurely pace which allows the story to slowly build in intensity. Readers need to set aside the time to savor this and be prepared to settle down and just let it happen. One thing I will let out of the bag for animal lovers is that the cat gets taken care of. Don’t worry about Lily’s cat. There is also just enough Scots dialect and period dialect to add verisimilitude without driving me batty. It doesna take lang for faux brogue to fash me (and fash can mean more than just worried – see here). One thing that I did begin to notice an excess of was total strangers being able to “read” Lily’s face and immediately divine her exact thoughts thus being able to give her solace and consolation – usually.
But I was glued to my seat reading to discover what’s going to happen next. There are details which I noticed hadn’t been supplied.
Spoiler: Show
Like Kaetrin, I’m not going to go into many details of the plot beyond reiterating that this is a book to sip and savor rather than chug down like a glass of ice cold water after you’ve spent all day mowing grass in the hot sun. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, important plot details that you will discover are deliciously slipped in without fanfare and which will only become clear later on. If this didn’t take a spreadsheet of monumental proportions to keep straight while the book was being written, I’ll be astonished.
The book can be read without reading any of the others in the “Slains” series or “Bellewether” though if those have been read, it’s fun to see returning characters in roles of varying sizes. To end, I will quote a line that one character, who has many secrets to hold, tells another – “All men do leave pieces out when they tell tales, it is no crime.” B+
~Jayne
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Jayne
Lovely review! I just re-read ‘Winter Sea’ and it looks like I’ll have time to re-read ‘Bellewether’ (and maybe ‘Firebird’) before the library gets my copy of ‘Vanished Days’ to me. That will be no hardship at all.
I appreciate you and Kaetrin both emphasizing ‘no peeking’, as I tend to do that when the situation in the book gets sticky. I shall do my best to curb my anxiety.
BTW, I share you ‘dual time-line burnout’. Too many authors using that format; and I find it holds my attention in (maybe) 20% of the books I try. However, I never have to worry when picking up one of Kearsley’s books–they never disappoint.
@Barb in Maryland: I think I would go for “Firebird” first over “Bellewether” as that one takes place 50 years after the events of “Vanished Days.” But if you have time for both then – yay!
Yes – Don’t Peek! Treat yourself and let everything be a surprise. Except I let the cat worry out of the bag – the cat is fine.
The first times I read dual timeline books I loved them (and Kearsley has written some fine ones, herself) but as you said, now everyone is doing it.
Oh I’m so glad you liked this one Jayne! *happy dance*
@Barb in Maryland: If it was another author I would have spoiled myself and read the ending first but I know better than to mistrust Susanna Kearsley!
@Kaetrin: I must admit that I approached this book with a little trepidation but that was almost immediately dispelled.
After I finished it, I began to think back on a few things and had to admire the clever “feints of hand” that Kearsley did.
Count me as another one who’s tired of the dual timeline narrative. When I read Possession by A.S. Byatt thirty years ago, the book felt so fresh and different because of its dual timeline. Now it’s dated on a couple of counts and this is one of them. Dual timelines are almost a cliche (which is not to say they can’t be executed well).
@Jayne: So clever!
@Janine: I love a good dual timeline – not least because most of the time I get two HEAs which I count as a win. :)
@Kaetrin: You’re right – two HEAs are a good trade-off.
@Janine: If both time periods are handled well, with fleshed out characters, plot, and ending I like them better. But that doesn’t always happen. Plus the sheer number of them makes me hope that eventually they will run their course as did the vampire/shifter books. Yes, those still exist but in far fewer numbers than 10 years ago.
Jayne
I broke down and bought the book as it looks like my library has hit a snag in processing this title. I loved it
I read it in one day and I’m happy to report that I Did Not Peek, even though I was sooo tempted. The payoff was definitely worth it. I’ll start re-reading it tomorrow to suss out all the hints and omissions.
@Barb in Maryland: Yay! Wow, you read it in one day?? I’m impressed.
@Barb in Maryland: It’s so good Barb!! I cannot wait to get stuck into it again and note all the cleverness I missed on the first go round.