I just love Susanna Kearsley books so much! The historical time period of this book was fascinating and not one that I've already read a lot about. The Long Island setting for both stories was interesting and enjoyable. There are a lot of side facets that fed into the bigger picture story arcs in both times that brought extra interest to the story. One of my favorite aspects of Kearsley books is how kind, good, and honorable her heroes are, and that was definitely in play in this book. I wanted to savor this story more and even tried to slow down my read of it a little bit! There were a few things that were either wrapped up or moved on from a little more quickly than I would have liked, but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the story. I always want more when I finish one of her books, and I think that would be the case no matter how long the book was :)

I’ve been looking forward to this foreverrrrrr, and in typical Kearsley fashion, did not disappoint. This was a little different from anything she’s written before, and I appreciated her take on American slavery.

A great read my first Susanna Kearsley! and it wont be my last one.Loved it.

Never having read a Suzannah Kearsley novel, I jumped at the opportunity when Belleweather was offered in exchange for an honest opinion. Sadly to say,, I was disappointed to find another predictable, time lapse story with too many characters as dull as the French and Indian war, which was the "past", historical period, I was enjoying the "present" period and perservered, hoping for an exciting twist in the story, Yay!, I got my wish. The pace picked up, the characters became more real and I became a happy reader. I look forward to reading more Kearsley historical novels.

“The house, when I first saw it, seemed intent on guarding what it knew; but we all learned, by the end of it, that secrets aren’t such easy things to keep.”

It’s late summer, war is raging, and families are torn apart by divided loyalties and deadly secrets. In this complex and dangerous time, a young French Canadian lieutenant is captured and billeted with a Long Island family, an unwilling and unwelcome guest. As he begins to pitch in with the never-ending household tasks and farm chores, Jean-Philippe de Sabran finds himself drawn to the daughter of the house. Slowly, Lydia Wilde comes to lean on Jean-Philippe, true soldier and gentleman, until their lives become inextricably intertwined. Legend has it that the forbidden love between Jean-Philippe and Lydia ended tragically, but centuries later, the clues they left behind slowly unveil the true story.

Okay, full disclosure, I love Susanna Kearsley’s books. I’ve read all of them, including Every Secret Thing, which was written under a pseudonym. I’ve been waiting for her next book since the release of A Dangerous Fortune in 2015, and I have to say that Bellewether was entirely worth the wait. Kearsley worked a truly magical blend of past and present, history and romance, with that dash of otherworldly elements that I love so much about her writing. The characters were so compelling, and the setting so vividly described, that I couldn’t put the book down at all. Also, the time period was new to me — I hadn’t really read anything about the Seven Years War before this, and Kearsley always puts so much research into her books and often bases her characters off of real people, so as a reader I felt like I was exposed to history I hadn’t known about before.

The book alternates through different points of view — Lydia and Jean-Philippe in the past, and Charley in the present. The romances were so well done and that blend of subtle “something in me was drawn to something in him” slow build that I really adore about historical fiction but also specifically about Kearsley’s writing. So much of the romance is the characters changing because of each other, and realizing how irreplaceable the other person has become in their lives; starting off with not thinking much of the other person, and then all of a sudden they realize that they’ve fallen in love and the other person is the one thing they’ve been missing in their lives. I love how much Jean-Philippe admired Lydia’s quiet devotion to her family and all the hard work she put in keeping peace between them as well as all of the tasks around the farm and household she did in addition to that emotional labor. I love how Charley’s beau never tried to diminish her work and always tried to help when he could, even when — especially when — Charley didn’t ask for it; he was just there because he knew that she needed it.

I really don’t want to give anything away but there’s so many layers to Kearsley’s storytelling, from the character dynamics to how people from the past relate to those in the present, to the reveals about certain aspects of the story that the reader doesn’t see coming at all, to the strong theme of family. I’m just so pleased with this book on so many levels, just with the storytelling, but there’s something else that I really wanted to mention because it was important to me as a reader and for what it says about Kearsley’s character. First, she dedicates the book to the slaves that her very own ancestors kept; she acknowledges the harm done and wishes to honor their memory, despite the wrong her family did to them. Kearsley doing this was such a powerful gesture, and sadly one that we don’t see too often from white people, in America or Canada. Second, the book doesn’t flinch from examining the horrors and sheer injustice of slavery, when it comes up in the narrative of the characters in the past. One of the characters in the book, who happens to be a slave, is actually named for one of the slaves Kearsley’s family kept. Third, in the ‘present’ section of the book, Kearsley also addresses racism against Native American/Indigenous people, and acknowledges the horrors of the residential school system in Canada. It really is so rare to see historical fiction where these things are addressed in a way that doesn’t gloss over the nasty history of it all and where the narrative does make clear these are things that need to be strongly condemned.

I really just loved Bellewether, and I want all of you to read it too.

The book is expected to be released on August 7, 2018 and is available for pre-order.

This is probably the best 3-star rating I ever read. Susanna Kearsley manages it to draw me in with just so little actually going on, and makes me fight for tears over almost nothing.

The story is written from three Point Of Views, which scared me in the beginning but worked actually very well.
Charley is a museum curator who takes on a new project, rebuilding an old house on Long Island and researching the history of especially one famous occupant in the late 19th century. She gets a bit side tracked when she hears a sad love story tied to the ghost who is presumably haunting the house. Charley gets drawn into the story of the famous occupant’s sister, Lydia, and a French-Canadian officer, a prisoner of war, who stayed in this house for a while.

The second and third POVs are from Lydia and Jean-Philippe in the last years of the 7-year war.

You know this war? I don’t. But I am more than interested to learn a bit about it. Maybe not as much as I did in this book. It’s a fine line between history book and fiction, and I assume Susanna Kearley researched well, but for me, personally, there was too much history. Not that this is a bad thing, though. What was very annoying and made the reading so very very slow was too much filler. Family history of side characters that made a two-paragraph-attendance in the book. Pages of description of surroundings that did not do anything to the story. Family drama that was not drama enough to be so much pondered on. And here comes in the 3-star rating: I would not read this book again, even though I loved the general writing, the characters, the story. I would have preferred a little bit more flow and a little bit more plot. While the progress in the story was very realistic and believable, for fiction I don’t mind a bit more “that happens only in a book”.
All this said – I have friends that are less impatient with the action in a book that will LOVE this story. Which is not a romance novel by no means, I would call it a mix of contemporary and historical fiction, family saga, with some romance thrown in. Even if I have my problems with this writing: well done, Mrs. Kearley!

I have read all of Susanna Kearsley's books and have enjoyed every one. This story takes place in two time periods, present day and in the early days of the United States. Charley, the main character in the present day, has just begun to manage a museum about a particular family and has also begun to receive a bit of supernatural help in doing so.
The story is well-written and the characters seem real, complete with strengths and foibles.
I was so pleased when I received the email saying I could read this book before it was released. I had already listed it with others I'm waiting for and August seemed very far away.
I'm so pleased I didn't have to, but it would have been worth the wait.

Another perfect book from Kearsley - well worth the wait. There's something about her writing that allows the reader to sink into another world. I'm there in the Americas of the French and Indian War - with Jean-Phillippe and Lydia who (in a rare feat for historical fiction) think, act and feel like people of their time. Her stories always take a little while to get going, the writing is quiet and the present-day storyline isn't terribly interesting - but there the past love story is unforgettable. I particularly appreciated the strong sense of time and place and the attention to women's work.

<Sigh>. What a wonderful story. I was truly caught up in the lives of the characters in this novel, both present day and the past. This is one of those books you hate to finish, because it means saying goodbye to friends.
This story revolves around an old house on Long Island. In the present day, the house is a museum, and in the past the house is the residence of the Wilde family. The historical part of the story revolves around the French and Indian War time period, prior to the American Revolution. Of course, as with most of the author's books, there is a touch of the supernatural.
Kearsley isn't afraid to tackle some heady subjects--Native Americans, slavery, draft-dodging--all contribute to the story, and seem to have been well-researched.
I highly recommend this to those who enjoy historical fiction, and don't mind a touch of the supernatural.

Great historical fiction. Kearsley never fails to satisfy her readers taste for a bit of historical mystery, a ghost, and a romance. Highly recommend.

Susanna Kearsley has written an achingly beautiful novel about love and honor. This story is told from three viewpoints: Lydia a young woman who lives with her Father and two brothers during the French and Indian War, Jean-Philippe de Brasan a French Canadian Lieutenant who is paroled on honor, living with Lydia's family until he can be exchanged for an English prisoner and Lydia who is a curator for a new museum whose focus is to tell the story of Benjamin Wilde, Lydia's brother.

The characters have depth and are so well written I can clearly see them in my mind. The transitions between viewpoints are seamless and each transition advances the scope of the story. Fact and fiction are expertly blended together to deliver a great story.

I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for giving me an advanced readers copy. I am happy to voluntarily write this review.

You know that feeling when you get a great first impression of someone, but you become disappointed after spending some substantial time with them? That is how I felt about this book, I lost interest very quickly. The topic seemed interesting, but it was nothing new. The typical past and present story, told from several perspectives, did nothing to impress me. None of the characters had something to captivate me or to make me care. Still, Susanna Kearsley is a good writer, her writing has a nice flow and I liked how she implemented some nice, almost philosophical thoughts without trying to sound profound. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to make this read enjoyable, it was boring and predictable. Once again, the attractive blurb was better than the story itself.

Young French Canadian lieutenant enters the story as a war captive, made to stay with the Wilde family until the end of war. There, he falls in love with Lydia, the only daughter in the house. Love story between enemies is told many, many times, so it is hard to find something exciting here. Both characters are two dimensional and for all the money in the world, I couldn’t see the attraction between them. Their problems are not really problems, but they are made to look dramatic. Their ending is also just too much, I really, really did not care about it.

In the present, we follow Charley, a museum curator who is trying to pick up the pieces of this love story, while also trying to maintain some personal life of her own. Charley, of course, has unsustainable relationship with some random guy until she discovers her true feeling about Sam, a contractor who is all the best things that little town has to offer. This is not a spoiler, you can figure this out in the first chapter, considering how Sam swoops in the story like an unsung hero every woman needs.

The author herself is "a former museum curator who loves restoring the lost voices of real people to the page", according to her author’s page. This is probably the reason why there is a big, and I really mean huge amount of unwanted description how an expert goes through documents and decides if they are valid and worth displaying in the museum. It is informative, but definitely not worth putting in a historical fiction novel. Finding buttons and going through dirt to see if there are any more buttons there… not really exciting.

I also wonder, why is this book titled "Bellewether"? If you must know, that is the name of the ship, but kill me if I see the story revolving around it. It is just a convenient transportation in one point of the story and it introduces us to one minor character. I am not criticizing, I may have lost the meaning somewhere, but if someone catches the importance of Bellewether, please inform me.

That being said, I can’t shake off the impression that Susanna is a good writer! This may be a boring book, but I can see myself getting one of her other books one day, who knows.

Historical love story or murder mystery? In current day,Charley, new museum curator, begins getting the Wilde Family Museum off the ground. Then she begins hearing stories of a murder of a French prisoner who was being held at the Wilde house during the Seven Years War. Story goes the French prisoner and the Wilde daughter, Lydia, fell in love. Lydia's brother was so distraught about this he killed the prisoner. As Charley searches for the truth she may also find some truths about herself.

As a reader of nearly all of Ms. Kearsley's published books, I know you cannot go into them thinking they will be a quick read that you'll just pick up and put down and never think of again. Her stories, the settings, her characters and the facets of history she so painstakingly researches for accuracy all combine into a piece of magic that, while you really enjoy the first time you read it, will continue to sit in your subconscious turning over & over and will eventually become a part of you.

Bellewether is another all consuming novel that I know I'll go back to time and time again, as I have with her other books, and each time, something new will stand out for me, some detail that I may not have fully realized as I was madly reading the pages before.

There are so many fascinating elements of Bellewether that you will not easily forget. I can already feel the pull to do some more Googling of my own. And I say 'more' because some occurred as I was reading.

Thank you to Ms. Kearsley, NetGalley & Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Belleweather is a beautiful book that explores the lives of two women separated by centuries. The exquisite prose and stunning descriptions provide a rich background for detailed characters who seem as real as you or I. This book captured my heart from the first page and still echoes there.

As in the author’s previous novels, the action moves back and forth between the present day and the past, with parallel heroines facing similar issues and encountering similar romantic possibilities.

In the present day, Charlotte (“Charley”) Van Hoek, 29, has moved from Toronto to Long Island, New York to take care of her niece Rachel after the unexpected early death of Charley’s brother Niels. She also accepted a job as curator of The Wilde House, home of the daring privateer from colonial times, Benjamin Wilde.

In the past, we follow the story of Lydia Wilde, Benjamin’s sister. In fact, Benjamin hardly figures into the story. Charley immediately gets intrigued by Lydia’s story instead. Lydia was a young woman who, according to later stories, fell in love with a French prisoner paroled to their house, and died of a broken heart after her older brother Joseph killed the Frenchman.

When the American Revolution began, Joseph, a loyalist, went north to Oswego, Canada to work in a shipyard. His best friend Moses, who was Rachel’s fiancé, went with him. Moses was killed and Joseph returned home with severe PTSD.

The family was tasked with putting up two French prisoners taken by the English from Fort Niagara to New York. Joseph hated them because they were French, but Lydia fell in love with one of them, Jean-Philippe de Sabran. The story goes that the Jean-Philippe and Lydia were going to run off, but Joseph killed the French officer and then Lydia “just turned her face to the wall and died too, of a broken heart.” The Frenchman supposedly now haunts the mansion and grounds, waiting for Lydia to join him.

Evaluation: The stories in the past and present are consistently engaging, especially because of the parallel similarities. There is plenty of history and romance, and the “ghost story” aspect adds mystery and interest.

An afterword provides more details on the historical characters and circumstances reported in the book.

I was so excited for a new Susanna Kearsley book after what felt like forever; but I thought Bellewether was a bit of a disappointment. Kearsley clearly put a lot of research and care into the story, and I really liked her inclusion of enslaved and non-white characters - people who often are overlooked in historical fiction, but who would have been very much a part of everyday life no matter where in North America a story is set. The plotting, however, felt very slow; not enough really happened (not that I need lots of action, this just felt like a lot of inaction), and I'm not always keen on romances in which the main players can't talk to one another. Kearsley's writing is still excellent, and I liked learning about what it would be like to be a curator at a small house museum, but the rest of the story left me a bit cold.

Susanna Kearsley has given us another treasure!

The richness and depth of her stories always draws you right in and leaves you reluctant to leave the world she has created. Bellewether deals with a time in history I know very little about, so I found the historic details very interesting.

This is such a great read you've sure to love it!

I loved this SO MUCH. The Seven Years War is not a setting that usually turns up in fiction but as a Canadian, I loved seeing it, and loved seeing a Quebecois romantic hero. I loved how well Kearsley drew the setting of colonial Long Island and I just couldn't put the book down. That said, the historical thread was much more compelling to me than the contemporary one--but I know it's Kearsley's thing, and I will continue to devour everything she releases.