I've got a Book Hangover again....

It's time for another Book Review. I have been getting the odd comment that my readers like my reviews.. that's encouraging as I never know if I have told too much, or not enough, or just what. If you love reading like I do, you probably are always on the lookout for another good suggestion, as I am. So it's nice to have someone else's opinion or recommendation. And today I can heartily recommend this one: The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley. I discovered her last spring when I read The Winter Sea (click here for review) and then The Rose Garden (click here). I simply love Kearsley's style of writing. She develops her characters so well, you feel you really know them and she is a master at shifting back and forth between present and past. Like the two previous books mentioned and reviewed, this story too begins in the present as Nicola Marter who works for one of London's premier dealers of Russian art, prepares to journey to St. Petersburg for an art purchase for a client. But there'll be much more to her travels than the art deal. Nicola was born with the gift of psychometry - she gets detailed visions of the past when she holds an old object. When a prospective client comes in hoping to sell a very old carving of a bird that she claims was given to her ancestor by Peter the Great's widow Empress Catherine, Nicola knows her story is true. She can see a vision of two women speaking Russian. Who are they? Could one really be Empress Catherine? The woman is in dire  need of the money the sale would bring and Nicola feels compelled to help her.
She turns to a friend who also has psychic gifts and together they follow a young girl named Anna from Scotland through Belgium and on to Russia to unravel the story of The Firebird. "Nicola and Rob unearth a tale of love and sacrifice, of courage and redemption... an old story that seems personal and small, perhaps, against the greater backdrops of the  Jacobite and Russian courts, but one that will forever change their lives." ~ from the book jacket.
As I said in the previous two Kearlsey novel reviews, if you like historical fiction with a touch of romance, if you like Diana Gabaldon or Mary Stuart, you will love these books. The Firebird is "sort of" a sequel to The Winter Sea, with some of the same characters, and I'd suggest reading it first, although this could be read as a "stand alone".... It's engrossing, captivating, a page-turner.. consider yourself warned. 5 stars are not enough... Now I have another case of Book Hangover...

Peace,
Linda

I don't want to just read books, I want to climb inside them and live there...