What a disappointment this was, after the joy of The Rose Garden by this author. Julia Beckett buys a beautiful house called Greywethers without ever having stepped inside it and having seen it only a couple of times in her life.
But, she feels that she was destined to live there. Once she moves in, she begins travelling back in time to live as Mariana, a young woman in love with the rich owner of a nearby manor house.
Julia has to learn why she is experiencing this, and in her life as Julia, is she fated to meet the reincarnation of Mariana’s love?
I know this isn’t a very lifelike plot, but it’s desperately unconvincing besides the obviously unreal time travel plot.
I like Julia’s new friends and I would have enjoyed the novel without the historical parts (which, as a history lover, is unlike me).
Mariana and her lover barely know each other and their love does not seem special enough to traverse time in order to be reunited.
Julia’s brother seems to accept his sister’s time travel/living as another woman too easily. There are a couple of twists at the end, which shake the plot up thankfully, but it’s too late to salvage the book and too many strands are left hanging.
This is pleasant and readable but I’m not sure if I will read another book by this author.
