Enchanting, harrowing, and haunting historical romance: a must read, but not for the faint of heart.
TW: Rape/violence
This novel will lull you into a cozy, pleasant sense of security, and then snatch it away. It broke my heart. And I really should have seen it coming.
his is a novel that deals with the tragedy and horror of the witch trials that tormented Britain (and especially Scotland) in the seventeenth century. Readers are told this in the description of the book. But this is also a romance. The tale of a young woman who flees a terrible fiancé and equally awful brother and finds family and peace (for a time) in the home of a Scottish Laird. She develops beautiful relationships with the older women of the house who become like mothers to her. I loved the way folk magic and beliefs were weaved into the story, and the atmosphere of magic they lent to the vividly rendered landscapes. The pool and the standing stones are not just a backdrop to this story, they are alive. Sinclair is a master at creating evocative settings. Her sense of place is integral to the story. The romance elements are equally beautiful, filled with joy and laughter. The Laird is an absolute dream. I love him.
The hints at what is to come are like the starts and shivers experienced when falling asleep somewhere unexpected; each one rocked me to my core as I recalled the very real stakes for women in this time period, and the dangers of gossip. Yet nothing could prepare me for the nightmare of the inevitable. Sinclair brings to life with brutal detail the memories of real women who suffered torture at the hands of the witch finders, in the dungeons and at the Mither Kirk, sadistic misogynists who took pleasure in degrading the victims of malicious gossip and accusation. I was prepared to bear witness to a lot of gruesome torture. I was not prepared for the rape. I cannot recall whether there was a trigger warning for this, but would like to suggest one. Thankfully, it was not too graphic. Sadly, given the time period and the subject matter, it wasn’t out of place, but nonetheless upsetting.
Spoilers ahead. Okay, this review is a little spoiler-y already. But if you want to read the book without knowing exactly how it ends, this is where you need to alight the figurative platform.
Last chance.
Okay, if you’re sure…
Even with the last minute rescue, and the eventual reuniting of the two lovers, I felt just as broken as the heroine. Her trauma is not eclipsed by her ‘happily ever after’—how could it be? But I think the worst part for me is that her pregnancy is inescapable. Her inner turmoil seems muted, like I am watching this through a clouded lens. Her husband is kind and devoted, as ever he was, and they flee the place where such terrible things happened, to seek solitude together, but it is a small comfort, to see them reunited. I experienced a strange kind of mourning for what the castle had represented at first, for the way the actions of the antagonists twisted it into something else, from idyllic refuge to a haunted shell. But still, the lovers are together. Isobel will be able to heal, in part, and in time. It is a broken and fragmented sort of happily ever after, pursued by a lingering anxiety. I would be the worse for wear without it, undoubtedly, and yet I cannot help but think of the women who did not have even this much.
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