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The Winter Sea  By  cover art

The Winter Sea

By: Susanna Kearsley
Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
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Editorial reviews

When venturing into the historical fiction genre, I’m often drawn to specific, brief events that were either glossed over or left entirely out of the history books, as opposed to those that cover broad subjects that can be densely overwhelming. Given a subject like Henry XIII and his wives or Joan of Arc, both popular subjects of the genre, an author could easily lose an audience to an overwhelming amount of explanation and facts. Instead, Susanna Kearsley’s The Winter Sea offers a narrow, controlled exploration of a lesser known event, the 1708 Jacobite failed uprising by James Stewart against William of Orange and Mary Stewart to reclaim the throne. It is an enthralling story that makes the facts and descriptions of the people and places surrounding the uprising much more palatable and absorbing.

The Winter Sea also offers a unique narrative format. Main character and popular historical fiction novelist Carrie McClelland rents a cottage for the summer on the coast of Scotland, not far from Slain Castle (where she sets her story) and where the Jacobite uprising occurred centuries ago. Thus, The Winter Sea has two narratives: McClelland in present day Scotland, writing her novel; and McClelland’s novel, a work in progress detailing the Jacobite uprising in 1708 Scotland. Such a narrative format is fodder for narrator Rosalyn Landor, whose performance skillfully embodies the complex mind of a writer. Her voicing of Carrie is investigative, creative, imaginative, and discerning. Her deep, expressive tone allows her the versatility to voice the myriad supporting characters, both male and female, past and present. The dreamlike writing sequences of McClelland writing her novel really sing under Landor’s rendering. With Landor as a guide, it’s easy to lose yourself in The Winter Sea’s journey through Scotland and through history.

The Winter Sea confidently flourishes in the intrigue surrounding this political uprising, while also offering the accommodating narrative device of delivering the story through the mind of a writer. Kearsley and Landor together remind us that history does not have to get bogged down by the facts, but instead can be thrilling, suspenseful, and imaginative, especially when presented from a unique perspective. Suzanne Day

Publisher's summary

History has all but forgotten...

In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.

Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write.

But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory, making her the only living person who knows the truth-the ultimate betrayal-that happened all those years ago, and that knowledge comes very close to destroying her...

Please note: This novel has also been published under a different title: Sophia's Secret.

Please note, this title is the original recording, which is now known as Sophia's Secret

©2010 Susanna Kearsley (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

  • Audie Award Winner, Romance, 2012
"Rosalyn Landor provides delightful Scottish accents for many of the characters Carrie meets inside and outside her novel....Landor adds a poetic edge to her storytelling while at the same time giving a dreamy aura to the historical side of the story." ( Audiofile)

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What listeners say about The Winter Sea

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  • Overall
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    4 out of 5 stars

Wonderful modern story and historical fiction woven together

An interesting bit of Scottish history woven into the process of writing historical fiction about one’s own ancestors. I loved the narrator!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wow!

This is the first book that I have read by this author, but I am now a fan and will read others. She is an amazing storyteller! You feel present in the moment. The story was interesting, intriguing, and well researched.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Breathtakingly beautiful and immediately captivating

A magnificently written novel that brings to life two separate lifetimes and encompasses you thoroughly into both of them. The Winter Sea is Breathtaking and full of beautiful possibilities

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

amazing

loved this story so much, I couldn't stop listening to it. I had to know what happened next. had me smiling, laughing and full on crying. the emotions were so real and messed with my own. one of my favorites books

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An utterly unparalleled story...

that will tug at every string of your heart. Exquisite storytelling from start to finish!

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Loved it!

I loved the story Ms the imagination of the writer! Loved the performance too!

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Beautiful!

I have fallen in love with this writer! And the reader was perfect! Kearsley has such a magical way of weaving non-fiction with fiction! Thank you for your gift of writing!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

It's....OK.

The book was....ok. The author attempts a parallel story line. The problem with this was that the author wasn't able to be consistent in her development of characters or situation. I felt as if she short-changed certain parts to be more detailed in other parts. As if she was worried about writing too much. One scene would be quite clever, the next would feel incomplete.

I wonder if this author had a developmental editor to help find plot gaps and places where the reader was bored or parts just didn't make sense. Characters had promise of being interesting, but then fizzled. The plot had promise, then fizzled. The premise of the novel was intriguing then didn't come through in the end. I kept hoping for more. Maybe the author just bit off more that she could chew with the 2 story lines at once. The story was ok enough that I would try one more of her books. If that has the same problems as this, I'll be done.

For those who compare this book to one from the Outlander series: An analogy...The Winter Sea:Outlander as Harlequin Authors:Jane Austen. They both have their place, but modify your expectations.

The narrator was ok, not great, just like the book.

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Fascinating

The way she blended memories as if they couldn’t wait to be found out… I was mesmerized!

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Love love love it!

This is my first book of this author and now I’m curious to read more. Loved the performance too.

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