The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

Just finished reading this delightful novel and as I turned to the “virtual” back cover, I released a pleasant sigh. This is why I read.

So I want to use this book to look at what comes together to produce that satisfied sigh at the end of a book. Several things, I think.

1.     1. We read to feel. To cry with the widow, to sneak around the corner, hiding from the leering, evil gardener, to rejoice in the beauty of young love, and to yearn for someone across an ocean. These emotions swept me up in this novel.

2.     2. We read to escape to another world. To leave the world of rainy, humid spring and travel to exotic locations where snow and ice and a biting wind off the North Sea batter the walls of the castle—this is a great way to gain a new appreciation for the world I actually inhabit.

3.     3. We read to learn. The Winter Sea is about an author who is writing an historical novel. We see how she researches, but we also travel back in time and learn about the Brittish-Scottish Union and the failed attempt of King James to return to Scotland and claim his throne. Real historical figures play major roles in the fiction—it’s fascinating!

4.     4. Lastly, I think we read to get to the last page so we can savor all the moments the author led us through in order to reach a vantage point where we could look back and say, that was exactly right. So much in this world is a mess. Reading an ordered story that ties up loose ends while leaving a few of the right ones hanging, gives us hope that in real life, there’s a chance at bringing things right.

My favorite image is the character with eyes like The Winter Sea. Eyes like that are beautiful to imagine, and since almost the whole story takes place in view of the winter sea, it’s especially poignant.

As a writer, I loved that the protagonist is a writer. I wish I had an agent like hers in the story. I wish I could just go rent a cottage near the setting of my story and write there, alone, until it’s finished. Well, I don’t really want to do that, but the idea is highly romantic, though completely unrealistic for me. But it’s fun to “live” that dream, even if I don’t truly want the reality (ie, months away from my family).

For an escape, read The Winter Sea. It’s beautiful, punctuated with some lovely surprises, and will sweep you to another world . . . plus, there’s a castle. And I'm fairly certain you'll close the book and without even thinking about it, you'll sigh because you're satisfied.