Slow and drawn out then rushed at the end

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natalieb Avatar

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Historical fiction is not my favourite genre of book, I have to confess, but the lure of a generation old mystery is what persuaded me to read this one. Set over two different timelines, the story centres around the family living in Kelly Castle.

Caro is our leading lady in the most modern of the two timelines and has married into the family who live at Kelly. Set in a post war timeline, she is an ex university professor who typically gave everything up to raise a family. Her mother in law asks her to research a mystery surrounding a missing bride from the family records and the mother to her husband's great grandmother. Amazingly, at the same time as she is researching this, a set of bones are discovered at the castle and she begins to investigate who they could belong to. I found Caro difficult to warm to - she seemed to be forever moaning about her husband's relationship with his mother and was suspicious of everyone and everything. She was very insecure within her marriage and I struggled with the relevance of this to the storyline.

Oliver is our main character in the storyline set waaaaay back and is Father to the great grandmother I mention before. I liked Oliver, I liked how he stood up for what he believed in on more than occasion. He was a romantic and was championing for equality in a time where it was unheard of. Oliver becomes surgeon on a ship that is beginning an expedition to whale hunt in the Antarctic. The only slight issue with this is the lack of medical knowledge Oliver has - 1 year in med school? Perhaps that was enough back then?!

The story itself lacked suspense - I felt it was only the last couple of chapters where I didn't want to stop reading. Prior to this, it was very long and drawn out. The events that unfolded were very unbelievable and although this is a work of fiction, it still needs to feel believable. It also felt somewhat rushed in the part that was supposed to be the exciting bit that the whole book had built up to. It left me feeling quite disappointed. I was also disappointed at the mistake in character's names during one part of the book - Alasdair was the husband of Caro and his name was used instead of Oliver's at the start of one of the chapters, quite a glaring mistake to have been missed.

Overall, I have given this a 3/5 - it wasn't amazing but I don't think it was dreadful and I do think it will really appeal to some people who are huge historical fiction fans.