The Vanished Days by Susanna Kearsley- Book Blog/Book Review

I’m so pleased to be part of the Random Things Tours blog tour for The Vanished Days by Susanna Kearsley- historical fiction set during the Jacobite revolution with a love story at its heart.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Series:  Slains (but can be read as a standalone )

Publication Date: 28^th April 2022

Autumn, 1707. Old enemies from the Highlands to the Borders are finding common ground as they join to protest the new Union with England, the French are preparing to launch an invasion to carry the young exiled Jacobite king back to Scotland to reclaim his throne, and in Edinburgh the streets are filled with discontent and danger. Queen Anne’s commissioners, seeking to calm the situation, have begun settling the losses and wages owed to those Scots who took part in the disastrous Darien expedition eight years earlier. When Lily, the young widow of a Darien sailor, comes forward to collect her husband’s wages, her claim is challenged, and one of the men who’s assigned to examine her has only days to decide if she’s honest, or if his own feelings are making him blind to the truth, and if he’s being used as a pawn in an even more treacherous game.

Review

I have to make a confession- this is the first Sussana Kearsley I have read and after reading The Vanished Days it won’t be the last. I couldn’t put this book down and found myself immersed in dangerous Scotland in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

I received a copy of this book for a free and unbiased review

The author’s writing was smooth and paints a vivid picture of the nobility with their posh dinner parties, social hierarchy and posh rooms in prisons well people of lower classes living on the wynds of Edinburgh, Leith and the rough room of Tolbooth prison.

The story is told in the first person by Adam Williamson, a soldier who has returned from the colonies, in 1707 and has been tasked to find out if Lily Graeme is truly the widow of a Darien Sailor. The rest of the story tells us about Lily’s past from her point of view in the third person. Both stories are riveting and complement each, peeling each layer of the mystery to reveal more but also adding political intrigue to what should be a simple task for Adam.

Adam and Lily are both complex yet sympathetic characters, especially Lily. Her life story was sad as I imagine many women of her class were but despite she never comes across as a victim.

Lily and Adam’s story is set against the religious and political turmoil of the Jacobite revolution and the union with England. The author weaves enough information through the narrative, so I didn’t need to feel the need to google this but her author’s note at the end provides enough context ( and is fascinating in its own right).

The ending was perfect and took me by surprise- I had to reread the book with a fresh pair of eyes.

Perfect for Fans of 

The Lymond Chronicles ( review here) or Outlander

I would recommend this to anyone who loves complex historical fiction with a beuatifully written romance and plenty of action.

Content warning

Descriptions of childhood sexual abuse.

About the author:

 New York Times bestselling author Susanna Kearsley is a former museum curator who loves restoring the lost voices of real people to the page, interweaving romance and historical intrigue with modern adventure. Over 1.5 million copies of her books have been sold and have been translated into over 25 languages. Her writing career began in 1993 when her then-unpublished novel Mariana won the Catherine Cookson Fiction Prize. Since then she has written twelve novels and won various awards, and has twice made the final of Romantic Novel of the Year awards. She lives near Toronto, Ontario, Canada