This one didn’t leave much of a lasting impression, but it was a perfect read for the mood I was in. The main character Nicola lives in present day Great Britain working in a gallery, but she has a secret. When she touches objects, she can sometimes see the history of its previous owners. When a woman comes into the shop claiming to possess a wood carving given to her ancestor by Catherine the Great, Nicola gets a short glimpse of Anna, the woman’s ancestor. She sets out with an old friend to authenticate the wood carving (aka the Firebird). Luckily, she has some business to conduct in Russia and can use the old objects there that live on in old buildings and public areas to get glimpses of Anna’s complicated life.
Kearsley weaves the stories of Anna and Nicola together in a wonderfully smooth way. Sometimes books with alternating perspectives can be choppy and unsatisfying, but there was none of that with The Firebird. I can’t really fault this book for much. The writing was good, the plot interesting, it just didn’t delve into something deeper to make me think about the story days or weeks later. Not that every story needs that though. Sometimes it’s nice to sink into something like this that is the literary equivalent of a cozy sweater.
Have you read any other Kearsley? This is actual the “sequel” to The Winter Sea which is far and away her best book. I really enjoy most of her books, but TWS is the best as a “cozy sweater”. Promise.
Thanks for the rec! The Firebird is the only Kearsley I’ve read so far, but I’ll have to go searching for TWS.
A few of her older works are hit or miss, but the contemporary hero in The Firebird is introduced in The Shadowy Horses (pretty darn solid) and The Rose Garden is also excellent as well (and my second favorite). But TWS… damn it. I think I’m going to have to go home and start a re-read tonight as it’s been a couple of years.