| 1906
Scotland. Emmeline Truelove is traveling to join her colleague,
Arthur Maximilian Haywood, the Duke of Olympia, who is staying
at a castle in the Orkney Islands. He wants Emmeline to help
investigate an unusual object found in an old chest: a selkie
skin. The chest belongs to James Magnusson, found while restoring
his family’s ancient castle. The “skin”
is part of the legend of the Thurso selkie, a creature who
will bring true love when she returns to the castle.
Max has
an unusual ability to send people through time, and Emmeline,
his college and Director of the Haywood Institute for the
Study of Time, appears to be a catalyst to Max’s ability
to time travel. When Hunter, a man claiming to have been born
in 1985, arrives then disappears, they learn their good friend
Lord Silverton has also disappeared. Are the disappearances
connected?
Later,
Emmeline senses Silverton’s presence in the past and
asks Max to send her to him. She arrives in the Orkney Islands
in the early 14th century, where Silverton finds and protects
her. What follows is a captivating and enchanting mystery.
Who owned the strange selkie skin? Was the selkie legend real?
Can Silverton and Emmeline return to their own time? And why
is Hunter following them through time?
I have
to admit, I had a small problem following the first two chapters
of this novel. Had I read Ms. Gray’s first release,
A Most Extraordinary Pursuit, much of the previous relationship
between Max, Silverton and Emmeline would be much clearer,
as well as the time jumps and Emmeline’s ability to
see and converse with the ghosts of her father and the Queen.
However, I enjoyed the author’s writing style and descriptions
so I persisted and found the remainder of the novel to be
entirely captivating and entertaining. The mystery was indeed
solid and the ending was an enjoyable surprise.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
A
Most Extraordinary Pursuit #1
A
Strange Scottish Shore #2
Reviewer
Note: Juliana Gray is a pseudonym for New York Times
bestselling author Beatriz Williams.
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