Review of the Susanna Kearsley's novels

It was by accident that I stumbled upon the novel, The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley. I remember I had read a few pages of this novel a year back. At that time, I was just not interested. 

Two weeks back, I was browsing through the novel list at an online site and came across this one. I told myself what could go wrong with reading this one. The novel is set in the Cornwall county in England. It starts with a detailed description of the place which I now understand is Susanna's style of writing.

It takes some time to like this novel. One has to have a little patience to wait for the story to unfold. It was a very sweet romance story that includes time travel. Although it was slow paced, I liked the story and the ending. When I was done with it, I wanted to check out if she had written more that one novel. I read reviews of a few of her novels and then went around searching for her other novels at the same site. 

I was not disappointed and found a few more at the same online site. They are all feel-good novels and have a happy ending. She has done a lot of research on the historical events and the places around Europe.

Here is my own personal review of a few that I had read -

a) The Rose Garden - a romance novel set in the Cornwall county. I loved the time travel part of this novel. The time travel blends in with the story. At no point of time was I confused if the heroine was in the present or in the past. The decision that the heroine takes felt right to me. There were a few surprises in the story towards the end and I had to read those sentences a second time to understand. I liked this novel and wouldn't mind reading it the second time. This was my first introduction to the group of people called Jacobites.

b) The Firebird - The hero and heroine are born with a gift - they can visualize who owned an object merely by touching it. In fact, the hero can actually go back to the events that happened in the past when he touches an object. They follow the journey of a girl who had lived in the past and that takes them to the different places she had lived including many parts of Europe and Russia. I was excited when I read the scenes that take place in Russia. As usual, the author does a good job in writing detailed descriptions of the places.

c) The Shadowy Horses - this is a novel that is set in Scotland. There is a friendly Roman soldier who is a ghost and a boy who has psychic powers. When I realized that there was a ghost, I assumed it would be a typical ghost story. I was surprised when the sentry is just one of the characters in the novel. I really didn't know much about what happens at archaeological digs until I read this novel. When I first read this, I was wondering why the boy and his mother sounded familiar and then I realized the connection between this book and the Firebird. This has to be read prior to reading the Firebird. I made a mistake of reading the Firebird first and then had to go back and forth between the two novels to understand the connection.

d) The Splendour Falls - after reading three of Susanna's novels, I was hoping for some kind of time travel or magic in this one. I was rather disappointed when it was just a sweet romantic novel with a sprinkle of mystery. However, as usual her detailed description of the surroundings was what made it a nice read. The novel is set in Chinon, France and as you follow the heroine's journey, it takes you through the nooks and corners of Chinon. When I finished this book, I wanted to immediately travel to Chinon and visit all the places described in this book.

e) Mariana - finally, I got another time travel romance story to read!!! While in the Rose Garden, it was just time travel, in this novel, it includes reincarnation. The heroine actually is the same person who had lived in the 17th century in the same house that she lives in the present. I just loved this novel. It was a bittersweet romance and the twist at the end was completely unexpected. Was I a little disappointed?? Maybe, maybe not!!! It is set in a lovely village in England and I could picture myself in all those places she had described in the novel.

I think I have become a fan of Susanna and her novels. Just when I thought that this was the last novel I would be reading online and I had to go out and buy other novels, I found another of her novel - The Desperate Fortune yesterday at the same site.

Well, I have started reading it although Iam very sure that this is just a normal novel. 

I hope it is a good one!!!

Chennai summer is back!!

 You know that summer is back in Chennai when - 

       # The water heaters in the bathrooms can take their well needed rest. They are not needed any more since the water is already hot.

                # The clay pots are pulled out from the cupboards and washed. They will be used to store the drinking water and keep it cool.

       #  The air coolers are now back in action. One cannot go to sleep without switching on the air coolers.

       # The plants look withered the whole day. It is only in the evenings after they have been given some water, do they come back to life.

       # The pickles and vadagams (that are used in sambhars) are prepared to last for an entire year are prepared.

       # You start sweating and hate going outside in the day time.

       # You drink lots of water and still feel thirsty.

       # You long for the mangoes to turn up in the stores and start dreaming of the various ways of having them either eat them as a whole or savor them in the form of juices or milkshakes. 

       # You wait for the rain gods to show some mercy and wish that it rains every day.

       # You wait eagerly for the water melons and nungu fruit.  

       

How illogical can people be??

More than a year back, we had gone to Coorg for a vacation. We stayed in a homestay that was highly recommended. There were good reviews about this place and the couple who owned the home stay. It was a beautiful place and situated in a secluded area far away from the resorts and hotels.

The owners of the homes stay owned a vast coffee estate. They were highly educated and were part of the elite community in that region.  

They just had three guest houses and at that time, we were the only guests who were staying in there. We were invited for dinner with them and had some pretty good conversation. My mother and I were befriended by the lady of the house and we had our own private conversations over dinner and in the mornings.

As expected, the conversation moved over to politics.

The lady of the house: I like M*** so much and always vote for his party B**

Me: Really and why is that?

She: Oh, he has no children or family. So, there is no reason for him to be corrupt and to take money. Which means he is a good man.

Me: How can you be sure. Do you have any proof for it? 

She: I have no proof but why does a man need money when he has no family

Me: Hmm. am not sure abt it. Let us for a while consider that your statement is true and he is not corrupt. Still, there are a few things that you need to consider - he may not be corrupt. He can still be a bad guy and do bad things or have bad policies. Second, you are actually going to vote for the candidate in his party who is nominated for this constituency. He is the one who is going to be the go to person for you if he wins. Are you sure, he is not corrupt or he is a good man. This guy M*** is the PM and not your local candidate.

She: I don't care. I like M*** and that is all that matters. In fact I don't like the C*** party at all

I was amused by her irrational thought and wanted to prod her a little more.

Me: Ok. And why is it that you don't like the C****** party?

She: You see, they started celebrating Tipu Sultan and had a day in a year to celebrate him. We all hate Tipu.

My MV: now, this is interesting. I have a fair knowledge of Tipu from what i learnt in my history classes. Still, why would someone in the 20th century hate him

Me: So why do you hate Tipu?

She: He was a tyrant who massacred many people in this area. We all hate him for that and that is the reason we all don't vote for the C**** party.

Me: Do you have historical facts to support it? Even if what you say is true, that was a long time ago. You were not even born at that time. So how do you know what really happened at that time?

She: That is true, we all know it.

Me: Ok.

*** I did not want to argue with her since she felt so strongly about and because I did not really have facts with me. Without facts, I had nothing to say about it.

We moved on to other topics and then she proudly talked about the guests that had stayed at the homestay. She talked about the foreign nationals who stayed and how they loved the place and the food that they served. She then talked about the vacations she took outside India and the places she had visited.

I was curious and asked her if she had any British nationals who had stayed at her place to which she quickly answered with pride that they did stay.

I was surprised - During the time the British ruled India, they had committed so many atrocities that were all aware of. So this highly educated and well read woman, was ready to look above that piece of history and take pride in hosting British nationals and was excited about travelling abroad. However, when it came to Tipu sultan (who was a ruler of India and fought against the British) and probably did what any ruler would do in those days, she was ready to hate him.

She was ready to vote for a party simply because it's leader was a single man and hated another national party because they celebrated Tipu Sultan? 

What kind of logic is this? If someone who is so well read and well educated can think so foolishly, I just cannot imagine what the others do. 

That is the state this country is in.

On a side note, I did read a little about this particular incident of Tipu and from what I understood, he was just another ruler in those times who did what he thought was right. Second, as part of their strategy, the British spread false news about Tipu to make sure the people of a particular religion hated him.

Strange, how people twist the historical facts to their advantage.