Review "Mariana" by Susanna Kearsley

Synopsis: The first time Julia Beckett saw Greywethers she was only five, but she knew that it was her house. And now that she’s at last become its owner, she suspects that she was drawn there for a reason.

As if Greywethers were a portal between worlds, she finds herself transported into seventeenth-century England, becoming Mariana, a young woman struggling against danger and treachery, and battling a forbidden love.

Each time Julia travels back, she becomes more enthralled with the past...until she realizes Mariana’s life is threatening to eclipse her own, and she must find a way to lay the past to rest or lose the chance for happiness in her own time.

Revew: Just like the previously book “The Winter Sea” released in Portugal by the publisher Asa, Susanna Kearsley delivers another bestseller that leaved me amazed and with that sweet feeling of loneliness and, at the same time, anxious to read the book once again. All that happens with “Mariana”, because the story follows the same structure as “The Winter Sea”, and it also brings us to a totally new climax which makes us question everything in the story.

Full of details and with unforgettable moments lived between seventeenth century England and the present, this is a fabulous book that will make us travel back in time several times and will make the reader learn more about England history in a difficult period in which war and plague reigner. At the same time, we will also learn about the main character that is slowly fillings the gaps in her previous life, which turns out to be unexpectedly full of action, romance, mystery and betrayals. Mariana, a normal girl with a normal and boring life, will have her life changed by some events and will also hide huge secrets that will put her life and those she loves in danger. When you think that you already know what will happen in the end, something then happens and the story takes a complete turnaround, leaving the reader a little confused and giving some secondary characters the chance to become more important in the story.

Despite being a wonderful book, I must say that I was often confused with some parts set in the past, because in one moment Julia was doing some chore or even looking at her garden and then she was suddenly transported to the past. These sudden changes can be a little confusing. The reader will only realize what happen only a few sentences after. When reading, please be attentive to the book.

My favorite characters were Vivien (character that I still think that is present in another book from Susanna Kearsley) and Iain, because their friendship was amusing and very funny and they made me laugh a few times along the story.

To end this review, I want to say that I wish to see another of this author’s books in our bookstores. She is undoubtedly one the best (if not the best) author who writes novels that include romance and time travel. Congratulations to the author and the Portuguese publisher for bringing us these wonderful books.