The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 Posted In actual book review , ghosts , historical fiction , lighthouses , romance , scotland , supernatural Edit This 0 Comments »Release Date: 07/27/10
Let's pretend for just a moment that the few issues I had with The Exile of Sara Stevenson weren't present.
Okay. You in the right frame of mind? Concentrate... concentrate... there! Okay.
So, minus a few looming issues, I loved this novel. It is a delish example of what a quality historical romance ought to be. It isn't even bad as an example of a gothic romance -- a category I'm not normally fond of.
Right from the start of this story there are mysteries. For the first dozen pages or so, there's just the basic mystery of figuring out why Sarah Stevenson is being exiled to begin with. (This assumes you haven't red the blurb, of course.) Then there is the mysterious lighthouse keeper with a fiery temper to match Sarah's and a curious interest in womanly flesh.
Campbell, the lighthouse keeper, is a man who obviously harbors many secrets, and is a perfect compliment to the character of Sarah. I reveled in their Darcy/Bennet-like relationship -- a killer formula that has worked for everyone from Austen to Margaret Mitchell and works just fine here. The whole story is full of missed connections and misunderstandings that build great dramatic irony for the reader. They make the book tough to put down!
Every character had a perfect place in the story, providing exactly what they needed to. There are no wasted pen-strokes on that account. Even Sarah's erstwhile companion, now betrayer, Kate, provides great dramatic tension as the reader builds a love/hate relationship with her.
So, what's not to like, then?
Firstly, I would just pretend this whole book is pure fiction and ignore the author's note. It'll just leave you wondering why she chose to drag poor Robert Stevenson into the story at all. It is one thing (and perfectly acceptable) to be told that the author puts Sarah at the Cape Wrath lighthouse a little before it was actually built. Okay, no problem. But it just keeps going like... oh yeah, and there's no evidence that Mr. Stevenson had a bastard grandkid... or banished his daughter to his lighthouse... or, actually even had a daughter named Sarah.
If I hadn't read the Wikipedia entry on Robert Stevenson before I finished the book, curious about a familial relationship, I would have expected the author to inform me that, in fact, Robert Stevenson didn't exist either.
And that's my point, really. He did exist. He didn't do any of the stuff Hannah accuses him of, except for build a lighthouse, and that wasn't even in the right time frame. Why not just make up a lighthouse designer whole cloth? It would have made more sense.
That's not my only issue, either. There is also something of a frame to the story, supernatural in nature. I could have lived without it. The story could have been written without it. But, to paraphrase the character of Sarah Stevenson, I don't believe in ghosts because I've never seen one. I enjoyed the more realistic elements of the story. Others are bound to feel differently.
None of this, would make The Exile of Sara Stevenson not worth reading, however. I devoured the book from beginning to end in almost record time and think it is a fine historical fiction novel that will appeal to those interested in romance and those interested in Scottish settings as well. I'd rather bless it for what it is than damn it for what it isn't.
Let's pretend for just a moment that the few issues I had with The Exile of Sara Stevenson weren't present.
Okay. You in the right frame of mind? Concentrate... concentrate... there! Okay.
So, minus a few looming issues, I loved this novel. It is a delish example of what a quality historical romance ought to be. It isn't even bad as an example of a gothic romance -- a category I'm not normally fond of.
Right from the start of this story there are mysteries. For the first dozen pages or so, there's just the basic mystery of figuring out why Sarah Stevenson is being exiled to begin with. (This assumes you haven't red the blurb, of course.) Then there is the mysterious lighthouse keeper with a fiery temper to match Sarah's and a curious interest in womanly flesh.
Campbell, the lighthouse keeper, is a man who obviously harbors many secrets, and is a perfect compliment to the character of Sarah. I reveled in their Darcy/Bennet-like relationship -- a killer formula that has worked for everyone from Austen to Margaret Mitchell and works just fine here. The whole story is full of missed connections and misunderstandings that build great dramatic irony for the reader. They make the book tough to put down!
Every character had a perfect place in the story, providing exactly what they needed to. There are no wasted pen-strokes on that account. Even Sarah's erstwhile companion, now betrayer, Kate, provides great dramatic tension as the reader builds a love/hate relationship with her.
So, what's not to like, then?
Firstly, I would just pretend this whole book is pure fiction and ignore the author's note. It'll just leave you wondering why she chose to drag poor Robert Stevenson into the story at all. It is one thing (and perfectly acceptable) to be told that the author puts Sarah at the Cape Wrath lighthouse a little before it was actually built. Okay, no problem. But it just keeps going like... oh yeah, and there's no evidence that Mr. Stevenson had a bastard grandkid... or banished his daughter to his lighthouse... or, actually even had a daughter named Sarah.
If I hadn't read the Wikipedia entry on Robert Stevenson before I finished the book, curious about a familial relationship, I would have expected the author to inform me that, in fact, Robert Stevenson didn't exist either.
And that's my point, really. He did exist. He didn't do any of the stuff Hannah accuses him of, except for build a lighthouse, and that wasn't even in the right time frame. Why not just make up a lighthouse designer whole cloth? It would have made more sense.
That's not my only issue, either. There is also something of a frame to the story, supernatural in nature. I could have lived without it. The story could have been written without it. But, to paraphrase the character of Sarah Stevenson, I don't believe in ghosts because I've never seen one. I enjoyed the more realistic elements of the story. Others are bound to feel differently.
None of this, would make The Exile of Sara Stevenson not worth reading, however. I devoured the book from beginning to end in almost record time and think it is a fine historical fiction novel that will appeal to those interested in romance and those interested in Scottish settings as well. I'd rather bless it for what it is than damn it for what it isn't.
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