Charley's life is turned upside down when her brother dies and now must take care of her teenage niece. She leaves her former life behind and moves to Millbank, New York. It's a cute town near the water and filled with history. Being a bit of a historian herself, she takes a job at the Wilde House Museum and the more she learns about the history of this house, the more things become interesting. Switch to the historical narratives and readers meet Lydia Wilde, who lives at the Wilde House along with her father and her brothers. Two captured French soldiers billet at the house, which Lydia thought would be a horrible situation as they are unwanted. One of the soldiers, Jean-Philippe, is a true gentleman and shows an interest in Lydia. Before we know it, sparks fly between them. Meanwhile, Charley learns more about the Wilde House and realizes that there are many clues as to what exactly happened to Jean-Philippe and Lydia many years ago. Susanna Kearsley's latest novel novel, Bellewether, will be appreciated by fans of various narratives that are woven together along with a side of historical fiction.

Both Charley and Lydia, although from different time periods, were interesting characters in Bellewether. Both had complex relationships with their families and both are well-developed. I never found myself drawn to one particular narrative over the other. The third narrative in Bellewether comes from Jean-Philippe and I liked his perspective as it really painted the full picture. Readers can tell that Kearsley truly researched the time period and what life was like during the 18th century and the French and Indian War as I felt that Jean-Philippe was also well-developed as a French Canadian soldier.

My main issue with Bellewether was the slow, slow build. There were various points where I put the novel down and I wasn't quite sure if I'd pick it back up. It took quite sometime to get the story moving and for Charley to start to uncover some secrets surrounding Lydia and Jean-Philippe. During the 18th century portion of the story, it was also slow moving and filled with a lot of mundane everyday activities until things picked up between Lydia and Jean-Philippe.

Fans of Kearsley know that she always ties in a sort of paranormal presence in her stories and that is true in Bellewether as well. The mysterious atmosphere of the house is really brought to life, especially when Charley notices a ghostly presence at Wilde House as well as curious objects from the past. On the same note, I found this aspect of the novel to be a bit predictable in that Kearsley seems to be following somewhat of the same formula time and time again.

Nonetheless, fans of Kearsley will enjoy this tale filled with ghosts, historical homes, romance, and stories woven together through the years. This isn't my favorite of Kearsley's novels that I have read, but I enjoyed it overall.

An interesting and entertaining story, with a slightly spooky atmosphere but not I didn't feel it had the emotional involvement of some of Kearsley's earlier novels.

This was sort of disappointing. And yes, I probably shouldn't be split hairs. When I questioned a friend that how could the ghost know about electricity, she stated that if you believe in ghosts then just go with the flow. Still it was sort of jarring. I think there could have been a more time appropriate indication of a ghost.


And I'm not sure what it says about me, but I didn't find the history that interesting.

I thought that this was okay. The writing was good but the plot wasn’t very interesting (especially for the first half or so) and it was a struggle to really care about most of the characters. I also had some issues with the fact that one of the storylines (involving Charley and her grandmother) was wrapped up- it was way too neat and seemed forced. Three for the good writing and occasional interesting character, but not a must-read in my book.

This was a fascinating and well researched historical fiction. There were both past and present points of view, which can often end up bothering me, but in this case, it was very well done.
Charley Van Hoek moves into her late brother’s home on Long Island and takes a job as curator of the Wilde House - the childhood home of 18th-century privateer Benjamin Wilde. Charley hears about the house’s ghost story - during the Seven Years’ War there was a tragic love affair between a captured French officer and Benjamin’s sister, where the soldier was shot and killed before the lovers could run away together. The house now appears to be haunted. The other part of the story is through the eyes of Lydia, the sister, and her love, Jean-Philippe. I loved following along with Charley's search for the truth.
The story is well written and does a great job of combining past and present. I'd definitely recommend it.

*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review *
It was a nice book, that much I can say. I specially liked the combinations of the historical timeline and the present one.
The thing was that for my taste, it just moved too slow. But that might be exactly the point so, maybe that's just me.
Also, referring to the characters, Sam was most obviously my favourite, but the main character was engaging on her own. So many heroines must have exciting, relevant jobs to keep it interesting. In this instance, it's nice to see that a curator is presented the same way as a lawyer might be.
This is a nice, historical book.

I enjoyed this so, so much. So many endearing characters but Zeb, Lydia and Jean-Philippe were favorites. I appreciate that Kearsley added an authors note explaining her motivations for writing about this time period; “I find people I just feel are reaching out to me. They take hold of my heart, somehow, and I just can’t forget them.” Her writing conveys her passion so authentically that I carry it with me long after I’ve turned the last page. If you have not had the pleasure of reading a Kearsley novel I would highly recommend adding them to your list. 5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Susanna Kearsley has become a go to author for me. Her books have transported to many fascinating times in history and provided me an opportunity to meet a host of unique characters.. Bellewether certainly has both, as well as a dual timeline. And while I normally love this setup, I found myself struggling to become engaged in Charley's story and time. I kept skimming through her parts so that I could get back to Lydia and Jean - Philippe. Their time period, and story kept me reading this book to the end.

While this was not a favorite of mine by Susanna, i did enjoy the historical aspect of the story and appreciated Lydia's story. And I will definitely be awaiting the next book she writes.

this is my second book by this author, unfortunately i didn't love it as much as the other one of her's i've read (the rose garden). i own some of her other books so will still give these a go but unfortunately this one just didn't do much for me. thanks netgalley!

A new book by Susanna Kearsley is always cause for happiness. I enjoy pretty much everything of hers I've read, and I've read quite a few. (Counting this one, I've read seven of her books, if you want the exact number.) I enjoy the historical aspects of her stories, and especially the paranormal bits she sometimes throws in there, and she writes some really beautiful love stories.

I ended up really liking this book, but I struggled with it in the beginning. There are two story lines, one in the past and one in the present. I usually like that format, but this time, the chapter changes from past to present made it too easy to put the book down between chapters, and sometimes I wouldn't pick it back up for days. For the first half or more of this book, I felt like nothing was happening. There's so much history explained. And again, rich, detailed history is something I tend to like in books. But for some reason, I didn't find it very interesting. The presentation felt more like I was reading passages out of a textbook, and much of it was information I already knew, so I did not find it enjoyable. I felt like I was being forced to sit through a lecture I'd heard before when really I was wanting some action, adventure and romance. Also, there are so many characters in this book - both in the past and present story lines - and we learn so many details about them, details that are not very significant to the main story. I had to keep stopping to remember if that person was the cousin or the friend or the neighbor or another soldier.

I admit that part of the problem could be me. I'm stressed at work, I'm upset by the current political situation, and often feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes reading helps, but sometimes, my mind is too distracted to focus on books.

Eventually, I found myself with several hours of time in which I couldn't do much of anything except read. That's when I finally got through what I considered the very long introduction in the book. I noticed I was right at 70% percent when I started to warm to the characters. That's when the romance in the past and the present finally moves forward. We know from the beginning who likes who and what direction they're going, but they don't make much attempt to get there until that 70% point. At that point, I really started to enjoy the story, both the past and present story.

Even though it took me a few weeks to get to that point, I am really glad I stuck with the book because I absolutely loved the last 30% of the book. Kearsley creates the best male love interests. The men she writes about are nice and respectful and noble and I love them so much. Even years after reading some of her books, I can, without having to think about it, tell you some of my favorite lines from her heroes in past books. Nice guys, in books, much like in real life, sometimes seem entirely too rare. In this book, in the present day story line, we have Sam, who is carefully making his way into Charley's life, becoming a friend at work, as well as helping her out around the house she's just moved into - replacing a broken door, showing up after a storm to clean up the area. In the past we have the French soldier, a man of honor, prepared to admire Lydia from afar because he fears he can never provide her with what she needs. I won't go into too much detail, because it's better if you read it for yourself. Kearsley has a gift for writing some sizzling romance, without the characters ever doing much more than holding hands or sharing an unexpected kiss.

Also, there's a ghost story, and I love good ghost stories. I wish this had been more of a ghost story, and less of a history lesson, but I did enjoy the ghost aspect quite a bit.

Frustrating that I find it easy to talk about the parts of the book that bothered me, but I'm afraid to describe what I really liked about the book without giving too much of a it away.

I ended up really liking this book, but it took me a while to get to that point. I definitely recommend this book to Kearsley fans and fans of historical fiction, with a bit of romance.

I received a copy of this via Netgalley.

Finished reading on April 15, 2018.

Another hauntingly brilliant novel from master storyteller Susanna Kearsley. With layer upon layer of mystery to unravel the reader feels like there are exploring a deep ocean as they toggle between multiple artfully intertwined narratives. A museum curator uncovers an old love story and maybe more as she learns that the past doesn't always stay buried.

In 1760, during the Seven Year’s War, the Wilde family—led by Zebulon Wilde (father), Benjamin (son), Joseph (son), Lydia (daughter), and Violet (domestic slave)—take on two French lieutenants, prisoners of war, on parole of honor until they are exchanged for their British counterparts. During the months that the French officers stay in the Wilde home, the family’s lives are upended, for Joseph Wilde has not long ago come back from the same war bearing psychological scars after witnessing his best friend killed in battle.

Both French officers couldn’t be more different from each other: Lieutenant de Brassart behaves as if he had been a God-sent gift to the family, while Lieutenant Jean-Philippe de Sabran understands the burden they are on this family, and behaves accordingly, befriending them, helping the men in daily tasks, and even falling in love with young Lydia Wilde.

In modern day, Long Island, New York, Charlotte “Charley” Van Hoek has recently moved to the small town where her late brother lived, to care for her niece until she comes of age and can inherit. Charley is working at a local estate museum—the Wilde House, which has been donated to the town and is under renovation to restore it to its former glory. Charley, with opposition from some members of the board of directors, wants to incorporate legends surrounding the family to the museum exhibits, for not much, if at all, is known about the remaining Wilde family members, except Benjamin Wilde who was a hero during the American Revolution. A museum ghost will come very handy in setting the facts straight and leading Charley on a path of discovery.

This is the eighth novel I have read by Susanna Kearsley, and it pains me to say, it is my least favorite. It started off intriguing; it seemed it was going be a family saga, or the story of a house through generations, and it was in a sense, but I feel there were so many missed opportunities with this novel.

Kearsley could have exploited more the angle of the Seven Year’s War, which she said was a precursor of sorts to the American Revolution. I can see how that was the case. Colonial merchants were getting squeezed with unfair taxation of their merchandise, having to do business only with the British, while British ships were free to do commerce in other ports, circumventing their own laws. Kearsley could have set a story, partly, in one of the forts that endured battle, to give an idea of how violent the conflagration was, how many lives were lost, how difficult the siege and subsequent falls of Quebec and Montreal were for the people living there... but the novel barely touched those angles. Instead, it mentioned those events, in passing, through letters focused on more mundane things. The same was true about slavery. In this matter Kearsley became a bit preachy in some characters’ voices, though it is fair to assume that seeds about the equality of men before God were already sprouting in the minds of British subjects this side of the Atlantic at that point in time. She could have explored this angle in more depth, but she didn’t.

What she chose to focus her story on was the matters that divide families, and perspective. Families were divided over issues of slave owning and their treatment, on where loyalties laid—during the Seven Year’s War, and the Vietnam War (as was the case with Charley’s father who dodged the draft and moved to Canada after his family disowned him). Perspective was explored rather creatively, because while in modern day people assume that a tragedy had happened in the Wilde House involving a French Lieutenant who haunted the property, mourning the death of his beloved and guarding the house’s secrets, in reality we see the story also unfold through the eyes of Lydia and Lieutenant de Sabran, and know that their lives were very ordinary during those months...So ordinary in fact, that it was borderline boring.

I had trouble connecting to the story. Not staying connected, just clinching to the passage where I had left off the previous day. I had trouble with this for several reasons: one, I was very distracted in general; second, I found that the time transitions weren’t smooth enough. The passages involving Lydia and de Sabran followed each other, thus we always knew how the same situation had affected each one differently. Lydia’s voice was in third person. Jean-Philippe spoke in first. Then there is Charley; she wasn’t fully developed as a character. She was mourning her late brother (kind of), had a boyfriend she cared about (kind of), wanted to connect to her estranged grandmother whom she had never met (sort of), didn’t really think about Sam that much but next thing we know they are (kind of) dating.

This is not Kearsley’s best effort by a long shot. It seems she wanted to honor her ancestors but the execution fell flat. The research wasn’t much to start with but it could have sprouted in several interesting directions. Being the gifted writer that she is, Kearsley could have told a rounder story. I guess this one wasn’t entirely in her.

Disclaimer: I received from the publisher a free e-galley of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. I also bought my own copy.

It's so funny how much I love Kearsley's writing, and yet a lot of times I put off reading her new books because the subject doesn't really appeal to me. Then I read it and the subject is suddenly interesting because she made it so. Case in point: the French and Indian War. The lady knows how to tell a good story with lots of moving pieces and historical details and feelings and such. And in this book, more so than in some of her other ones, I found the modern story equally engaging; I loved the details of running a small historic museum especially, and it was a unique way to tie the narratives together. My main complaint with this book was the title, probably. Didn't capture the essence, I don't think.

Susanna Kearsley tells such fulfilling romantic stories, that I knew as soon as I heard about this book that I wanted to read it. However, this one fell a bit flat for me. I loved the descriptions of Long Island and I loved the premise, but I just didn't really like the storyline. Lydia and Charley had interesting outlines for their story, but I got bored with the lack of action. I'll still read Susanna Kearsley, but this was a rare misfire for me.

Much like the historical home museum setting, there is a lot to look at but not a lot going on. Well written with several relationships and a Ghost , there is much to write about but Kearsley just scratches the surface. Lacking the romance and magic of earlier books, the history was still there. Full depictions of Canadian French military, the housing of prisoners, the use of slaves, the job of a curator are all accounted for. It just left me wanting more.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

As a regular reader of Susanna Kearsley, I was so excited that I was chosen to receive a ARC of Bellewether. I generally love her books, but not so much when it comes to this book. The changing perspectives don't interfere with my reading pleasure but the pace of the first half of the story was too slow for my taste. I felt like I really had to struggle to continue.

Overall, once you get through the first half of the book, you can enjoy a great story. My one caveat is that there are a lot of social injustice issues presented and it felt like it was forced upon her readers.

While not Kearsley's best work, the character development and dual story lines are well thought out.

This is my opinion alone, and not influenced by the author or publisher. I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Loved this story, or rather, two stories. (Read it yourself to understand.) Well written and engrossing. A definite recommendation!

Kearsley always weaves a sweet tale and thoroughly researches the time period and history in which the tale is told. This one was good, but not a favorite. A tad bit predictable and a bit too heavy on the details, making them feel like "filler" (descriptions of the furnishings of the room two and three pages too long).

A well written and very absorbing read. I really enjoyed the historical narrative, was lukewarm on the modern one, but they blended together pretty well. I am absolutely going to check out other books by Ms Kearsley!

The book opens in Long Island in 1682 at The Wilde House, and introduces the reader to the first generation of Wildes to live in the New World. However the focus is on the second generation, the family of Zebulon Wilde, during the mid eighteenth century, a time of the War between England and France which left its mark on much of New York. There is some discussion and explanation of the process of French Canadian prisoners being housed in New York following their capture hoping for repatriation which almost always meant to France and not to their homeland.

The Wilde House made and held secrets through the centuries and the present part of the story tries to tease out their meaning and importance. The structure is tricky. Each chapter is told sequentially by Charley (Charlotte Van Hoek) the present day curator of the Wilde House, Lydia the daughter of Zebulon Wilde, and Jean-Philippe a French Canadian Prisoner of War interred at the Wilde House.

The present part of the book explains why Charley finds herself in Long Island, far from her home in Toronto. While she may be a stranger to the community her family has been a cornerstone for generations. Her appointment as Curator of the Wilde House has not been with a resounding vote of confidence. She faces an uphill battle but along with her detractors she has strong allies.

The backstory relates important issues of the time - slavery and the Slave Conspiracy, Acadian refugees and their place in mid-eighteenth country life, privateering and piracy and of course the varying degrees of loyalty to the crown. Unfortunately much of the past, so essential to the present, plods while the present is a bit too young and brash and trite. The series of misconceptions takes forever to untangle and I was left wondering how anything would have been unraveled without the intervention of the ghost/spirit. Wait, did I forget to mention the light in the trees that beckoned to the ships off the coast, the door that keeps shutting, the books that get moved?

Having read most of Susanna Kearsley’s previous books I found Bellewether disappointing. It was wordy and very slowly paced. The parts felt separate and the complete story never seems to completely mesh. I did enjoy the history lesson and her meticulous research.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for a copy.