Some houses seem to want to hold their secrets.

It’s 1759 and the world is at war, pulling the North American colonies of Britain and France into the conflict. The times are complicated, as are the loyalties of many New York merchants who have secretly been trading with the French for years, defying Britain’s colonial laws in a game growing ever more treacherous.

When captured French officers are brought to Long Island to be billeted in private homes on their parole of honour, it upends the lives of the Wilde family—deeply involved in the treasonous trade and already divided by war.

Lydia Wilde, struggling to keep the peace in her fracturing family following her mother’s death, has little time or kindness to spare for her unwanted guests. French-Canadian lieutenant Jean-Philippe de Sabran has little desire to be there. But by the war’s end they’ll both learn love, honour, and duty can form tangled bonds that are not broken easily.

Their doomed romance becomes a local legend, told and re-told through the years until the present day, when conflict of a different kind brings Charley Van Hoek to Long Island to be the new curator of the Wilde House Museum.

Charley doesn’t believe in ghosts. But as she starts to delve into the history of Lydia and her French officer, it becomes clear that the Wilde House holds more than just secrets, and Charley discovers the legend might not have been telling the whole story...or the whole truth.

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My Review:

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani

I have long been waiting to read a book by Susanna Kearsley and I savored this novel page by page. Although the story build-up is slow, it's what ended up making me like this book all the more. Best of all, I loved the Canadian history and how it unfolded to reveal how the Colonial Wars between the British and French colonies affected the local people. The setting was familiar to me as I live in Montreal, Quebec and have been to some of the places mentioned in this book.

Bellewether is a dual timeline story alternating between the present and 1759, with exactly the same setting and events unfolding in the same house but during two different time periods. In the present we have Charley who is the new curator of the Wilde House Museum. She has a "meh" relationship with her boyfriend and has moved in with her college-age niece who is now alone since Charley's brother died. Charley loves researching the history of the Wilde house and her discoveries follow the story that takes place in 1759 when the Wilde family take in two enemy French officers, POWs on parole of honour.

Lydia Wilde is the only daughter in a house of men (her mother died) and she and French-Canadian lieutenant Jean-Philippe de Sabran are not happy to be in the same house together. The presence of the French officers further strains the already tense atmosphere by Lydia's youngest brother who also fought in the war against the French.
This is where Kearsley's writing talent comes into play. She creates a tense situation and realistically builds on how the family and the officers had to learn to co-habit even as the war is still raging and they do not speak the same language. I loved how the relationship and eventual love between Lydia and Jean-Philippe builds, like a slow burn. Kearsley shows how even during war, or despite it, people have the same fears, needs and compassion no matter which side they are on. She peels back the layers of their personalities during this highly conflicting time, which only adds to the pleasure of their relationship.

There is a ghost in this story, which I tolerated as I do not like or read ghost stories. As with most dual timeline stories I have read, I seem to find one timeline more interesting than the other. In this case, the historical timeline or Lydia's story was more interesting to me, even as I enjoyed the present day story. I loved how Kearsley brings both stories together by the end of the novel and how she built the mystery of what really happened between Lydia and Jean-Philippe. Is there any truth to their tragic legend?

If you are a fan of Kearsley's novels then you will enjoy this new story. If you are reading her work for the first time, this novel has her signature mystery/paranormal/historical richness evident in all her books. This was an enjoyable and highly satisfying read for me.

Disclosure: Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

Photo: Jacques du Toit

A former museum curator, Susanna Kearsley brings her passion for research and travel to her novels, weaving modern-day and historical intrigue. She won the prestigious Catherine Cookson Fiction Award for her novel Mariana, the 2010 Romantic Times Book Review’s Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction novel for The Winter Sea, was shortlisted for a 2012 RITA Award for The Rose Garden, and was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel from the Crime Writers of Canada for Every Secret Thing. Visit her at SusannaKearsley.com or follow her on Twitter @SusannaKearsley.

Book Description:

Phoebe―half Jamaican, half French-Canadian―hates her school nickname of “French Toast.” So she is mortified when, out on a walk with her Jamaican grandmother, she hears a classmate shout it out at her. To make things worse, Nan-Ma, who is blind, wants an explanation of the name. How can Phoebe describe the color of her skin to someone who has never seen it? “Like tea, after you’ve added the milk,” she says. And her father? “Like warm banana bread.” And Nan-Ma herself? She is like maple syrup poured over...well...

In French Toast, Kari-Lynn Winters uses descriptions of favorite foods from both of Phoebe’s cultures to celebrate the varied skin tones of her family. François Thisdale’s imaginative illustrations fill the landscape with whimsy and mouthwatering delight as Phoebe realizes her own resilience and takes ownership of her nickname proudly.
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