Book Review #3

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

I bought this book as an impulse buy on one of my many trips to Shopper's. This one focuses on the main character named Julia Beckett. The story opens when she's 5 years old and staring at an old 17th century farmhouse named Greyweathers. Julia is oddly intrigued and drawn to Greyweathers, and she knows she will find herself there again in the future. 20 years later Julia returns to the sleepy English town, Wiltshire, where Greyweathers is located and buys the old, historical farmhouse. She quickly develops friendly relationships with the town gardner- Iain, and Geoff de Morney ; handsome and mysterious, with a deep and enriching past living in a centuries-old mansion, Crofton Hall.
Soon Julia has visions that wisk her back in time to the 1600s and she becomes Mariana, a young and beautiful girl who lived in Greyweathers after fleeing London from the plague. As the world's of Julia and Mariana's overlap, Julia struggles to differentiate between past and present, and that maybe, in her case, they are the same.
This book has such amazing imagery and the descriptions in themselves are definitley worth the read. I was kept interested throughout the story: especially in the lives of the characters and the descriptions of the English countryside and the buildings. The only negative aspect of this book is the lack of romance in Julia's present-day life. Yes, I do enjoy romance in novels, and this book lacked any chemistry between any of the characters.
Kearsley has a real talent for developing a real and engaging atmosphere, and throughout the novel, I felt like I was right there with the characters.
Very good book! Not perfect, but very good! 7.5/10!