For the past 24 hours I have been trying to pick up Mariana and continue reading, but I can't because I've finished the book and now I feel like I've lost a good friend. I don't know what makes Kearsley's writing so compelling and her characters so unforgettable. They are just ordinary people (well, except for Geoff, who is a millionaire) thrust into extraordinary situations, caught between two vastly different lives and searching for meaning in both. I believe that Susanna Kearsley must have lived a past life. I can't think of any other explanation for her ability to absolutely transport her readers through time!
"I first saw the house in the summer of my fifth birthday." As this novel begins, Julia Beckett is speaking of Greywethers, the house that she would eventually buy in her thirtieth year. After moving into this house she begins to experience brief periods of life as Mariana Farr, a young woman who lived in England's treacherous Jacobean era, when Charles Stuart was on the throne and the plague devastated Europe. As Mariana, Julia has no memory of her future existence as Julia, but when she returns to the present she remembers Mariana's life and becomes obsessed with learning why she has such a strong connection to the past. As Mariana she falls deeply in love with Richard DeMornay, ancestor and image of her neighbor, Geoff deMornay, the current squire of Crofton Hall. There is, it seems, no record of Richard in local historical or burial records, yet Julia is sure that his role in Mariana's life has significance for her in the present.
Susanna Kearsley has populated the village of Exbury, present and past, with richly drawn personalities and romance. Originally published in 1994, Mariana preceded The Rose Garden by many years. The author's talent has grown, if possible, over time. I can't wait to see what comes next!
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