CBR17 Book 15: "The King's Messenger" by Susanna Kearsley

Page count: 512 pages

Rating: 4 stars

StoryGraph Easy Reading Challenge 2025: All Alone - Read a stand-alone book

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC. My opinions are my own. 

It is 1613 and Prince Henry, James I's eldest son and heir has tragically died. Rumours whisper that it might not have been by natural causes. Queen Anna is distraught, and King James is determined to punish the guilty. 

Andrew Logan is one of the king's messengers and he's tasked with going to Scotland to apprehend Sir David Moray, Prince Henry's closest companion, and bring him safely to London to face 'trial'. Logan will not be travelling alone, along for the journey will also be an experienced scribe, Lawrence Westaway, who will write down anything that Moray says or does during the trip. Because Lawrence is elderly and of ill health, Westaway's daughter Phoebe will also accompany them. Complicating matters somewhat is the secret Logan needs to keep from everyone around him. He has the Second Sight, and can occasionally catch glimpses of things that will happen. In a time where the least unusual behaviour could have you accused of witchcraft, Logan dares not tell Phoebe that he can see her father's poor health will shortly lead to his death. 

While the queen is mourning her son, she doesn't necessarily believe Sir David is responsible for his death. She wants him brought safely to her so she can speak with him, Logan's orders are to bring him directly to the king. Logan suspects that by arresting Moray, he may be complicit in the man's demise. It doesn't help matters that Logan and Phoebe don't exactly get along. She believes him to be a brutish and uncivilised man, swayed by the words of others in her acquaintance. He believes her to be a judgemental snob who has coldly rejected any of his overtures of friendship since they were younger. 

The journey from Edinburgh to London is long, however, and the travellers spend a lot of time in each other's company. Logan arrests Sir David as his ship from France arrives in the port in Leith, and on their return journey to London, the group are also joined by a young stablehand who idolises Logan and wants to become a royal messenger like him. Sir David is obviously grieving the loss of Prince Henry deeply and it becomes obvious to everyone in the group almost immediately that he is an innocent man, and that taking him to London would be to commit an act of injustice. Their return to London will also be dangerous, as one of Sir David's Scottish kinsmen is pursuing them with a large band of his soldiers, determined to spirit his cousin away to safety.

Searching my blog, it turns out I haven't actually read a single of Kearsley's novels since 2014 when I finished The Firebird. It surprised me that it's been so long, I remember the ones I read quite well and liked all three. She writes very well-researched and engaging historical fiction, sometimes with a light supernatural element, such as Andrew Logan's occasional glimpses into the future in this book. Based on the plot descriptions of this book online, I was expecting more of a suspense book, possibly something involving espionage - which is not the case. In some ways, it's a road trip novel, only the mode of transportation is horses, and it takes a considerable amount of time riding from Edinburgh to London, even when keeping a brisk pace because rebellious Scotsmen are in pursuit. I actually preferred this quieter story to the one I thought would be happening, so in my case, it worked out fine.

In several of the Kearsley books I read in the past, there are two parallell storylines, one set in the past, one in the present day. Here, it's all in the early 1600s, chiefly 1613, but several of the POV characters, like Sir David and Queen Anna have flashbacks to previous events, mostly concerning Prince Henry. There is absolutely romantic tension between Logan and Phoebe, but it's not exactly a sweeping love story that dominates the plot. It becomes clear to the reader (who gets to read the POV of both characters) that a lot of their mutual distrust and animosity comes from misunderstandings early on in their acquaintance (and in Phoebe's case, that she's listened to people who spread malicious gossip, some of which is clearly untrue). 

I was also worried, when I realised how much of this book deals with grief of losing a son (Sir David may not have fathered Prince Henry, but he cleary loved the young man as a son, probably much more than King James ever did), which since I became a mother is one of my biggest nightmares. Sir David and Queen Anna's flashbacks were sad, but thankfully there was nothing to emotionally destroy me.

The King's Messenger is out this week in the US. In the rest of the world, it's apparently been out since August 2024, so there are already lots of readers out there that share my view on the quality of this book. It was a lovely read, and made me determined to check out more of Kearsley's back catalogue before another decade passes.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR6 Book 56: "The Firebird" by Susanna Kearsley

Page count: 484 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Nicola Marter has psychometric powers. This means that when she touches an object, she can see glimpses of whoever's owned it or touched it before. Her grandfather, who escaped from Russia, has the same powers and always admonished her to keep the gift hidden, which she does, even from her boss Sebastian, an eccentric and successful antiquities dealer. Yet when a woman, Margaret Ross, comes to them with a wooden carving which she wants authenticated, claiming that it was once owned by Empress Catherine of Russia, Nicola touches the little Firebird and can tell that the woman's story is true. There just isn't any actual proof, and poor Margaret has to go away disappointed. Having cared for sick relatives most of her life, the authentication and sale of the carving could have secured this woman's finances. Nicola can't forget her, and decides that she wants to try and help her, without actually openly revealing her powers.

She'll need help proving the carving's history, though, and turns to a man she hasn't seen in two years, Rob McMorran, whose psychic gifts are much stronger than her own. He agrees to help her, and together they travel first to Dundee in Scotland, and later to Belgium, France and Russia, all to track Anna, Margaret's ancestor, and try to prove that the Firebird carving was a gift from a Russian empress. As they travel, their feelings for one another start to resurface. But can they ever have a future when they feel so differently about their psychic gifts?

Nicola is an intensely private person, keeping her psychic gifts hidden from everyone around her, always remembering the dire warnings from her grandfather. Apart from her family, only a very few people in the world know what she can do, Rob McMorran is one of them. Nicola met him while studying in Edinburgh, and his psychic powers are much more extensive than hers, he has premonitions and visions, and much more control of his gifts than she ever managed. The two shared an attraction that could have turned into something more significant, if Nicola hadn't gotten spooked and run away. Now, two years later, she realises that she can't help Margaret without Rob's aid.

Nicola is about to go to Russia to acquire a mural for her boss. What better time to investigate further into the Firebird carving Margaret Ross wanted authenticated? Nicola doesn't think her own powers are strong enough to trace through the centuries to Margaret's ancestor, so she goes to Berwick Upon Tweed to find Rob. If he were to come with her to Dundee, to see Margaret a second time, and touch the carving, he may give her enough clues as to what to search for in St. Petersburg. She wants to prove that the carving originated with the Russian Empress, so Margaret can sell it and get enough money to travel the world.

Rob is a police officer in Berwick and also works as a volunteer lifeguard. It's obvious that the entire town knows about his abilities and that they are a great aid to him in his work. One of the reasons Nicola fled from Edinburgh is because she felt that her powers made her a freak, and she has trouble accepting that Rob can so proudly and openly display his clairvoyance. When she turns up in Berwick, it becomes obvious that he was already expecting her and he's cleared his schedule so he can come with her on her journey.

Their quest to authenticate the carving takes them on a longer and more complicated trip than Nicola had anticipated. When tracking Anna, Margaret's ancestor, who Nicola saw being given the carving by the Empress in her first vision, they first go further north in Scotland to Slains castle, only to discover that she was taken from Scotland to Belgium as a young girl.

When Anna Logan is about eight, she discovers that the family that has raised her isn't actually her own, and that her parents gave her up as a baby to keep her safe. Her great uncle arrives to take her to a convent in Belgium, as in 1715, it was not safe for Jacobites in Scotland and as both Anna's real parents were prominent Jacobites, there are fears for her safety. Traveling with her great uncle is the injured Lieutenant Jamieson, who Anna takes to seeing as a sort of surrogate father. They spend a lot of time together until Jamieson's leg heals, and he promises to return before too long to take Anna from the convent to her family.

Even in the Belgian convent, Anna is not entirely safe. There are those who would use her as leverage to get to her family and relatives, all Jacobites, and through a series of dramatic events, Anna has to flee the convent and eventually ends up in St. Petersburg with a kindly naval captain, who in time becomes vice admiral to the Russian Tsar. Anna is raised in his family alongside his own daughters, but always feels a longing for her real family. To aid her foster father's further rise in society, Anna goes to live with General Lacy, as a companion to his pregnant wife. There she meets the roguish Edmund O'Connor, the general's Irish kinsman. Initially, they are constantly at each other's throats, but time and proximity causes their feelings to develop into something deeper.

Suddenly reunited with Rob, spending so much time with him chasing through Europe and Russia for Anna's history, Nicola's feelings towards him start to reawaken. They have to be in physical contact to share the visions of the past, and Rob always behaves as a perfect gentleman, almost like a brother much of the time. At other times, he confuses her by being decidedly flirtatious. During their journey, Rob keeps pushing her to use her psychic abilities more and more, challenging her perceptions that being able to do such things are bad or undesirable things. He can't understand why she hides and represses her talents; she is unnerved at how willing he is to show his skills to the world.

There are two parallel stories in The Firebird, a narrative device that may seem familiar to anyone whose read any of Kearsley's other books. This book is actually a sequel to one of Kearsley's previous novels, The Winter Sea, known as Sophia's Secret in the UK. It is also, as far as I could tell, loosely connected with her book The Shadowy Horses, where Rob McMorran first appeared. Anna Logan is actually Anna Moray, the daughter of Sophia and John from The Winter Sea. Her life is an eventful one, and throughout she seeks love, belonging and to be reunited with her true family. That's not to say that she doesn't experience a lot of love and care in both of her foster families. The Logans and later the Gordons care for her deeply, and while she doesn't have the life that her parents wished for her, it's by no means a bad one.

I read The Winter Sea a long time ago now, and must admit that I no longer remember all the details of the plot. I do remember finding Kearsley's writing completely spell-binding though, and being drawn into the story, captivated by the story lines in both the past and the present. It's exactly the same with this book. When I read Lauren Willig's The Pink Carnation series, I tend to get annoyed every time I have to leave the story of the brave spies of the past, always feeling that the jumps back to the framing story in the present is a bit like getting an ad break just as the movie you're watching is getting really good. Here, I was almost more compelled to read about Nicola and Rob in the present day, although Anna's story was also fascinating. It's a big book, which takes its time to reveal its secrets. I especially loved the sections in St. Petersburg, which I was lucky enough to visit about five years back. This book really made me want to return there.

The carving that Nicola is trying to authenticate is a Firebird, which appears in several Russian folktales. There are several different versions, but they all seem to amount to the same thing: whoever goes to chase after a Firebird, may return from their journey with something entirely different than what they originally set out to find. This is absolutely the case for both Nicola and Anna, and I very much enjoyed taking part in their romantic journeys.

This is the third Kearsley novel I have read, and I can see why she's so popular among her fans. I would also like to emphasise that while this book is a sequel, and seems connected to some of Kearsley's other books, it works fine on its own, and as it features a lot of the narrative devices I've seen in other of her novels, can be a great introduction to her writing.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR4 Book 10: "The Rose Garden" by Susanna Kearsley

Page count: 478 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Date begun: January 25th, 2012
Date finished: January 30th, 2012

When Eva's film star sister Katrina dies, she leaves her PR job in California and goes to Cornwall, where they used to spend their happy childhood summers, to scatter the ashes. Emotionally vulnerable and grieving, she stays with old family friends in the house she remembers so well, and tries to make up for the room and board she's receiving by helping her friends, siblings Mark and Susan, to keep from losing their property. The house has beautiful rose gardens adjoining it, and while they used to have lots of visitors, interest has waned. Susan wants to open a tea room to bring in more tourists, and Eva agrees to help use her PR skills to assist her.

While staying in Cornwall, Eva at first thinks she's hallucinating from grief, as she hears strange voices in the house that no one else can hear. She sees an unfamiliar man, even talks to him a few times, and it's only when she finds herself in her bedroom, wearing his silk robe, that she is forced to admit that she's not going crazy, she just seems to be able to slip back in time to the 18th Century on occasion, and interact with the inhabitants of the house then. While sometimes days can pass on her visits to the past, no time seems to pass in the present while she's gone. Soon Eva is falling in love with Daniel Butler, a Cornish smuggler loosely involved in the Jacobite rebellion, who died centuries before she was born. How can she help her friends in the present, when she's pining for the past, and how can she possibly sustain a viable relationship with a man when she keeps popping back to her own present?

Susanna Kearsley's last book, The Winter Sea, was also a combination of contemporary and historical fiction, woven together. In that book, both the narratives were gripping and kept me turning the pages. The Rose Garden, unfortunately, was much better when Eva was in the past. Her interactions with Daniel, his brother Jack and their friend and fellow smuggler Fergal (who pretends Eva is his sister to explain her sudden presence) were so much more interesting and compelling than her present day endeavours to get to grips with the loss of her sister, and helping the Hallett siblings get their business in order. I kept wanting her to spend less time focusing on the present and go back to the past. To be fair, Eva keeps wanting to return to the past too, so perhaps this is just a clever ploy of Kearsley's, to emphasise how much more awesome Eva's life is there, but I doubt it. Still, a perfectly enjoyable read, and the historical bits are excellent.

59. "The Winter Sea" by Susanna Kearsley

Publisher: Sourcebooks
Page count: 544 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: July 27th, 2011
Date finished: July 28th, 2011

Carrie McClelland is a bestselling author, who while visiting her agent north of Aberdeen, is strangely drawn to Slains castle in Cruden Bay. She's recently started a book about the 1708 Jacobite rebellion (if you don't know Scottish history, google it, I'm not going to explain it here), and decides to rent a cottage in the village near the castle, to get further inspiration for her writing. Unlike her previous novels, her new book seems to flow off the page, almost as if she's not having to craft the story, but writing about something she herself experienced.

The Winter Sea was first published in the UK as Sophia's Secret. It contains two parallell narratives; the story of Carrie, writing her novel in the Scottish countryside and trying to discover more about her ancestors during the early 18th Century, and Carrie's novel, about young Sophia Paterson, who arrives at Slains castle in 1708 and gets involved in the Jacobite rebellion. Both narratives are very well written, with very engaging protagonists, and while it's a fairly big book, I could barely put it down. It helps that the suspense is kept high as the narratives alternate. Part of what makes this book so compelling is Kearsley's way with words and how good she is at describing the setting. You get a very distinct feel for the little village where Carrie comes to stay, and for the life at Slains back in the early 18th Century. You can almost feel the wind whistling past the windows and cottage corners and smell the ocean nearby. Anyone interested in well written and entertaining historical fiction, especially with a romantic element, should give this book a chance.