Suki Brown grows up in poverty, her parents work for farmer Constsant Lambton and she’s desperate to escape their over crowed cottage. Suki falls in love with Captain Jack, he tells her he loves her and she’s left to deal with the consequences.

Suki's employed by the Bradbury family as a wet nurse in Bath, she has to feed their baby William first and then tend to her own son Jack. Sir George and Lady Bradbury have three children, Ariadne, Melissa and little William. Sir George is busy with his various business ventures and Lady Bradbury likes to entertain and go shopping. Suki fends off Sir George's unwanted advances, then discovers William has passed away and she quickly switches the babies. Suki's very worried she will get into trouble for defending herself against Sir George and for William passing away.

Suki tires to find Captain Jack Daventry, he lied to her and he’s set sail aboard the Bonny Beaufoy. He’s pretending to be a slave master, he and the crew are traveling to the West Indies. The realities of slavery shock Jack, others don’t consider slaves to be human and he begins to think differently. This causes tension aboard the Bonny Beaufoy, it’s a long voyage back to England and Jack has to fight keep his own freedom. All the while Suki is still searching for him, dealing with the Bradbury family and worried someone will discover her deception.

I received a copy of Suki from Agora Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Beryl Kingston has written a long winded historical saga, it starts in Bath England, in the year 1755, and you travel along with Jack to the West Indies, Africa and back to England. The story highlights the plight of unmarried mothers, poverty, lack of education and how hard life was at the time. You also learn about the beliefs and customs of the period, fashion, child raising, infant mortality rates, diseases, and how cruel and barbaric slavery was. I found the parts of the narrative about slavery very difficult to read, extremely distressing and three stars from me.

Beautifully descriptive story and well-crafted characters. The story flows and it is a fun read. Highly recommend.

Beryl Kingston has written another wonderful novel.Emotional involving romantic.Historical fiction at its best.# netgalley #agorafiction,

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. A full review will be posted on Amazon and Goodreads

This book was previously published as two seperate books, but was republished together as one book by Agora books. I found this title by chance on NetGalley and the cover art caught my eye, so after reading the accompanying description I requested to read this book.

This book focuses on a young, unwed mother named Suki working in a wealthy household as the family's wet nurse. When the young baby she is charged with caring for unexpectedly dies, she finds herself in a percarious position. If she tells the family their son has died she will be out of a job and without a way to support her own son, so she makes the choice to switch the babies and convince everyone around her that her own baby is the one that passed, therefore keeping her position and giving her son a better life. But this plan isn't fool proof what will happen if someone discovers the switch or when her service are no longer needed?

There is so much going on in this book. From mutiple plotlines and perspectives, to numerous settings around the world and throughout England. I had so many mixed feelings about this book and its characters. And my feelings for specific characters kept fluctuating from the more positive to the more neagtive and back again as I was reading. They were all so unlikable that I somehow found myself liking them. The book was overly long and the plot slow, but amusing and entertaining. The family she works for is so ridiculous. As a wealthy and utterly disfunctional family, they are completey self-centered, immature, and lacking in perspective. But then they were also quite entertaining in their ridiculousness. The Captain is in such a percarious position and reliant on others for his position in life, and yet he somehow is incredibly arrogant and entitled. But yet again I found myself somehow liking his character. As for Suki herself, she is a flawed character. She is manipulative, deceitful, entitlted, presumptuous, and so very naive. But when all these things are matched together with her remarkable luck that she manages not to get caught time and time again, you have a pretty great character that is more real and relatable for all her flaws.

I can see why this book was originally published as two books. It is very long, I'd even go so far as to say unnecessarily long. The author gives a lot of descriptive details that enables you to visualize the story as you read, but it sometimes gets bogged down in too many details that wind up slowing down the progression of the story. Pages and pages often pass describing daily life, but nothing is really happening in regards to the story. I took several breaks from this book because I found myself getting bored, and had I not paused on the reading, I likely would have given up on the book altogether, which is why I'm giving this book the rating I am. But I was intruiged and I wanted to know what would become of our characters and how everything would work itself out, so I stuck with it and I was glad that I did.

Although I did say that I see why this was originally two books, I can also see why it was reprinted as one. For me, I didn't feel that this book had two seperate conclusions, but one encompassing conclusion that would flow better if not broken up.

I received a copy of this book from Agora Books via NetGalley, this is my honest opinion.

I received a copy of this title courtesy of Agora Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Suki was originally published in two parts: Only Young in 2000 and Only Human in 2001. It was republished under the current title on April 18, 2019. As with other Agora titles I’ve read, the cover art is highly appealing.

As for the novel itself, I had such mixed feelings the entire time I read it. The title character, Suki, is an unwed wet nurse who finds herself lying to provide a future for her own child. She is deceitful, naive, and yet, likeable. The family she works for is ridiculous and unsympathetic. Her lover is despicable… until you get to know him. There is so much going on in this book and there’s a whole scope of complexities happening in the plot.

The author touches on (unfair) expectations for women, the despicability and normalcy of the slave trade, the absurd habits and entertainments of society in the 18th century. You’ll travel all over England, across the sea, through the West Indies and Africa and back again and in between. You’ll meet characters you love, you hate, you love to hate and hate to love and sometimes it will be all of the above for a single personage depending on where you are in the book. My emotions were engaged – I was angry, I was incredulous, I was disheartened – I was also entwined quite intricately into the sinuous route from first chapter to final sentence.

Ms. Kingston writes remarkable tales – sagas that take an investment of time. However, they’re very well written with descriptive prose and colourful situations. Well worth the time required when you close the cover for the last time with a possible tear and a heartfelt sigh.

Original review published on my blog: https://lifelovelaughterlinds.home.blog/2019/05/04/book-review-suki-by-beryl-kingston/

After reading a brief description of “Suki,” I knew I had to get my hands on it! I am so glad I was given the chance to read an advanced copy; it’s one of the best books I’ve read in 2019! The era, characters, & plot line are memorable & beautiful. I highly recommend “Suki.”