As most of Susanna Kearsley’s novels, The Vanished Days unfolds over two parallel timelines: “the past”, sixteen years (1683-1699) of convulsive English and Scottish history serve as backdrop for the main characters’ coming of age; and “the present“ (three weeks, between late September to mid October, 1707), when there is an inquiry, on behalf of the Commissioners of the Equivalent, to assert the legitimacy of widow Lilias “Lily” Aitcheson’s claim that she married James “Jamie” Graeme before he sailed for Caledonia and lost his life.

The marriage itself was unusual; it was never recorded at the Kirk. It took place in secret, in front of a Presbyterian minister who was banned from officiating mass due to the shifting religious climate. The witnesses were long dead, as was the minister. It’s up to law clerk Richard Gilroy and Sergeant Adam Williamson, the narrator, acting in lieu of a friend in whose house he was temporarily lodged, to find acquaintances that may have known both married parties.

The years between 1683 and 1707 were convulsive. Upon the death of the Episcopalian King Charles II in 1683, his Catholic brother King James II acceded the throne, which brought anarchy due to religious and political differences. Two major insurrections were quelled, a third succeeded in deposing him—sending him to exile with his wife and baby son— this one led by his daughter Mary’s husband, Dutch Protestant William, Prince of Orange, who led an invading army to overthrow King James II. With William king, the Highlanders in Scotland planned invasion after invasion to restore the exiled James to the throne. Never wavering but never succeeding either.

Upon King William’s death, Queen Mary’s sister, Anne, acceded the throne. Her spies kept the Jacobites in check, who now wanted to put the late King James’ rightful heir, King James III (or VIII of Scotland), Anne’s half-brother, on the throne. As a concession to the rebels, Queen Anne created the Equivalent, which was money that the living heirs of the dead Scots who had served at Darien could claim as settlement.

Jamie Graeme’s marriage to Lily Aitcheson meant that, if it could be proven, she was his sole heir and she could collect the settlement for his participation in the Darien expedition—Scotland’s failed attempt at becoming an empire. If Lily’s claim was proved fraudulent, she could face death—as an example. The fact that Lily could be related to the Graemes, and was well acquainted with their cousins, the Morays, had huge implications because it was rumored that both families had tight links to the Jacobite court in Saint Germain. For that reason, some very important people were invested in the outcome of this inquiry, Queen Anne’s spies among them.

A prequel to the marvelous The Winter Sea and its brilliant follow up The Firebird, and with tangential ties to Bellewether, which was, perhaps unfairly, my least favorite among the three, The Vanished Days follows Kearsley’s genre bending tradition, for it is equal parts political maneuvering, history lesson, detective work, and love story. There is substantially more history in this novel than in most of her other works combined, perhaps at risk of overtaking the characters’ journeys, but I feel that it gave complexity to what an otherwise might have been an ordinary story. Sometimes that’s a risk that must be taken; the reward comes with striking the right balance.

I started this year reading the first two installments of The Burning Chambers series, written by Kate Mosse, namely The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears, which are novelized accounts of the Wars of Religions in France. I feel The Vanished Days is an excellent companion to Mosse’s series, especially because the religious intolerance of the era had implications across the continent.

Disclaimer: I received a free e-galley from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Susanna Kearsley scores another winner!!
I love everything she has ever written and her latest joins that pile.
Historical dual timelines - no one does it better that Ms. Kearsley.
I can’t wait for her next book!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for my honest review.

DNF @ 20%

I’m bored. The narrative keeps flashing back and forth too quickly to create a connection with the characters. And the protagonist keeps breaking the fourth wall to explain why he’s explaining things in a certain way. I was intrigued to read something set primarily in the early 1700s, but the writing style seems to be attempting to mimic the writing style of the time in a way that is too close to capture and maintain interest but too far off to be authentic. With too many clumsy attempts at foreshadowing and minimal progression, I can’t see it going anywhere I’d be interested in sticking around to see.

This book is the prequel to The Winter Sea and boy is it a commitment. I enjoyed this book well enough.

There is a lot going on and I will say that I was lost in the story much of the time. There is a LOT of Scottish history and it felt like quicksand at times. BUT, if you are a fan of Susanna Kearsley, then this is the book for you.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this advanced readers copy. This book released October 5, 2021.

I have mixed feelings here. First of all, I love Kearsley's historical research and the attention to detail. This cover? Oof - absolutely gorgeous. Yet I had trouble getting into this book--it was very dense, and the time travel aspect (of all of her books, actually) still confuse me. This was no exception. Shame (for me) but likely a joy for other readers.

Did I take way too long to read this book that was one of my most highly anticipated books of the year? Yes. Did it live up to everything I wanted it to be and more? Also yes. Did it make me desperately want to go back and reread The Winter Sea and also The Firebird? Triple yes. I am obsessed with this history that Susanna Kearsley has brought to life. She is so impossibly talented and I am continuously amazed every time I read or listen to one of her novels. I did a combined listening/reading with my eyes experience this time because sometimes I got too impatient for the audiobook so I can say with certainty that I appreciated this book in both styles.

Now, I suppose we should talk about what it's about. Essentially, Sgt. Williamson steps in for a friend to conduct an inquiry into this woman's assertion that she was married to Jamie Graeme when he passed away going to the theoretical Scots colony in the land that would later become the United States (I think. My sense of geography is sketch.). Anyway, they have to do an inquiry and along the way, we meet a lot of people, some who are familiar (!!!!) and some who are brand new (to us). But through it all, I was hooked and desperate to know more. This is a dual timeline novel, the way they typically are, but instead of one being in the present and the other in the past, this time it's like 1707, I think, and 16... something or other.

I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say that if you've enjoyed Kearsley in the past, I think you'll be happy with this installment. And if you've not read Kearsley before, start with The Winter Sea and race through The Scottish series like I did.

Interesting prequel story that covers Scottish history, political uprisings, and divided loyalties. There is a dual timeline, and begins when a young widow, comes forward to claim her dead husband's wages. He was killed in the Darien uprising, which was both a disaster and made Scotland practically destitute. A man, among others, is designated to find out if her claims are true, but along the way his feelings become intertwined with the truth.

It is an adventurous story, as in the struggle between religion and rulers take on massive control and forces the people into choices they don't want to make. Told beautifully with a flourishing stye this book would appeal to anyone who loves the history of Scotland.

Thank you to Susanna Kearsley, Sourcebook Landmark, and NetGalley for a copy of this story.

The Vanished Days is a prequel to The Winter Sea. It goes back in time to the 1680s and introduces the reader to the Moray and Graeme families. King James has been exiled and there is a new Union with England. In 1707, the French are preparing to launch an invasion to bring the young exiled Jacobite king back to Scotland to reclaim his throne. Queen Anne's commissioners have begun paying out money sent up from London to settle the losses and wages owed to those Scots who took part in the disastrous Darien expedition eight years earlier. It was an ill-fated venture that left Scotland all but bankrupt. Lily Aitcheson comes forward to collect her husband's wages but her claim is challenged. Adam Williamson is assigned to investigate and to decide if she's telling the truth. The chapters switch back and forth from the 1680's and 1707. Kearsley has done excellent research. The surprise ending is an interesting plot twist. If you like historical tales of adventure, endurance, romance and hope, then you will enjoy this book. I would like to thank NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a free copy for an honest review.

Longtime Susanna Kearsley fan here. There's little of hers that I have not read, but this one felt a bit different to me. I had a harder time getting into it, and struggled to finally finish it.

Lots of Jacobite history to be found here, and her novels are always full of historical details. The story is told through flashbacks instead of her common time-travel-esque way of doing things. All in all, not a bad book, just not quite what I was hoping for.

The Vanished Days
Tha Scottish series, Slains, Book 3
Susanna Kearsley, author

This is my first full length novel by this author and I can honestly say, I look forward to reading more novels of Ms. Kearsley.

Told from the perspective of the main character's husband, Matthew, the story spans the life of Lily from a young child into adulthood.

The storyline was complex and deep seeded. Often difficult to follow at times. However, It comes full circle and offers the reader a dynamic story.

I want to thank Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an advanced review copy of the book. I voluntarily leave this review. Lastly, I also listened to the audio version of the story and found the narrator's voice quite unique.

Susanna Kearsley's latest offering differs from her earlier books: rather than time slips, this novel uses flashbacks to evoke the power of memories and the ways in which remembrances of past decisions shape the future. The novel is somewhat slower-paced than other Kearsley books, but character development and a strong narrative voice drives this story and engages readers.

I savored the first 85% of this book, but the final plot twist felt forced, requiring readers to re-evaluate nearly everything they thought they knew about characters and their relationships. The twist itself was satisfying but for it to work, more development and lead-up to The Reveal were needed.

Final thoughts: it's good to see Kearsley trying something new -- but this effort doesn't quite manage to pull it off.

This was a gorgeous read, and I’m entirely not surprised that I loved it. This author always has a way of pulling me into a story from the first sentence. THE VANISHED DAYS will still with me for a long time, and I still can’t believe that trust at the end. INCREDIBLE storytelling and writing.

Mystery and intrigue abound in The Vanished Days by Susanna Kearsley, a prequel to The Winter Sea. Told in dual timelines about twenty years apart, two men are called upon to ascertain the validity of Lily Graeme’s claim to recompense owed to her after her husband died in the Darian expedition for Scotland. Adam Williamson is asked to assist in the investigation of the claim. As the questioning begins, the novel moves back in time to Lily’s narrative (1698) while the present is Adam’s narrative of the investigation (1707). There is a lot of Scottish history here which is great (I had to research the Darian Scheme), but some readers may get confused and find the book a slow start. However, as the foundations are laid, the story becomes a compelling read.

Kearsley is an expert in setting, character, and historical accuracy. The descriptIons of Edinburgh are thoroughly researched, Names, streets, churches and buildings come alive and allow the story to be fully visualized. This is also true of the characters, although there are mysteries surrounding almost all of the characters, which makes for great reading! This is definitely a Scottish story full of the Jacobite political movement, Queen Anne’s reign, social conditions and issues of class in a turbulent time as Scotland and England moved to be in union. So much history in a beautifully woven story! Recommended!

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I'm a Susanna Kearsley fan. This particular book went into a great deal of history, almost ad nauseum. The heavy handed approach detracted from the overall story. The ending was completely disconnected from the rest of of the story and a bit of a disappointment. I understand it was set up as a prequel, but it did not inspire reading the next book.

I did enjoy this book.
The story is well written and I just didn’t want to put this one down .
I do recommend this.

I was intrigued by the blurb for this book, but unfortunately the book itself didn't really do anything for me. There seemed to be a lot of exposition, characters appeared as if the reader already knew them (the book feels part of a series, even if it isn't), the plot meandered and wasn't easy to follow, and none of the characters were particularly engaging. The writing was good, but overall it felt like there was a novel in there trying to get out.

This last weekend I finished reading Susanna Kearsley's latest book, The Vanished Days. Kearsley is one of those authors who I always, always recommend to other readers, particularly books like The Winter Sea or The Rose Garden. I love the history and the way that she connects the past with the present.





The Vanished Days also represents the tenth book I have read by her, so today I bring you a Top Ten Tuesday featuring the books of Susanna Kearsley. There are a couple of books that I do still have to read. I am kind of holding off on them so that I know I always will have some that I can turn to, at some point.

But first, a few words about The Vanished Days.


This book is different from Kearsley's other books. Normally there she has a dual timeline, one in the present and one in the past, which are somehow interconnected. In this book, there are still two timelines, but one is predominantly in the 1690s and the other in 1707, and we get to hear the history both looking back and as it is happening. It is a fascinating time with the Jacobites, the ill fated Darien exhibition, religious tension and so much more.





The narrator is Adam Williamson. He is a Scot who has just returned from America and he is hoping to reconnect with his friend, who was a survivor from Darien. Instead, he is coerced into leading an investigation into a woman named Lilly Aitcheson, who is claiming entitlements as a widow of a man who died on the exhibition. He has to determine if Lilly was really married to James Graeme, as she claimed.





I couldn't help but feel like Adam was something of an unreliable narrator. He was looking back to tell us Lilly's history, but also about the investigation, which really was about much more than just whether the marriage was legitimate or not.





I really enjoyed parts of this book, but there were other parts which got bogged down in the politics and history of the day. Lilly was also a complicated character, and I was never really sure about her, so you had an unreliable narrator talking about an unreliable character. There's no doubt though, that Lilly is not a cookie cutter historical heroine. Her story is one of survival against the odds, of which there were many.





I did recently start rereading The Winter Sea on audiobook. I had to stop because there was an overlap in characters, but I will be going back to it now. I don't often reread, but this Kearsley is one of those authors where I make an exception.





Goodreads has The Winter Sea, The Firebird and this book are all connected together as a series called Scottish on Goodreads, but then The Winter Sea and The Firebird are connected together under the series label Slains. In reality, the way that Kearsley's books are connected is more complicated than that. Characters cross paths through a lot of these books. In The Vanished Days we here about the early days of the main characters from The Winter Sea, plus different characters from The Firebird, and connecting to Bellewether which I haven't read yet. Some of these characters also appear in the short story in The Deadly Hours, and then one of the characters from The Shadowy Horses also turns up in The Firebird. Mariana is in there somewhere too. All very interconnected. What there isn't though, is an actual order to read in, so you can start anywhere.

I received an advanced reading copy via Netgalley though all thoughts are my own. I was so excited to be approved for an early copy as it's one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it didn't disappoint!

Though this is considered to be a part of the Slains series, it can be read by itself but I would recommend having a bit of knowledge about early 1700s Scotland including some information about the Jacobites to get some context of the book.

This was told in multiple points of view, jumping between the late 1600s to the early 1700s as stories are told about some of the characters and you get more insight into why some of the characters are reluctant to speak about their past.

I really felt for Lilly who was one of my favorite characters and was just trying her best to live a good life but often found herself between a rock and a hard place. She was able to overcome so much, including coming to terms with being abused as a little girl by someone she trusted, the death of her parents, losing friends and loved ones while also keeping a candle for a man who she fell in love with.

I also really enjoyed learning about Adam's story who has also had his fair share of hurdles to overcome, is full of surprises and did not see the ending that reveals things about his past. I had to go back and reread some parts for it to click but that's probably because I was so wrapped up in the story.

Highly recommend checking out this book especially if you are interested in the early 1700s Scotland and the Jacobites. Looking forward to reading more of Susanna's books and can't wait to see what next she has up her sleeve!

Trigger warnings: death, prison, hanging, forced into service, pedophile, child abuse, black mail, some violence, death due to child birth

Most of the time I get irritated with two or more viewpoints in a novel. If I get invested in one storyline or timeframe, why do I want to push through another? Well with The Vanished Days, Susanna Kearsley intertwines them so well I barely noticed. This novel is a snapshot of Scottish living, politics and social standing in the 1700’s. Kearsley starts with a small mystery and weaves it into a romance which makes that same mystery so large it encompasses the whole story. The mention of the Jacobite movement drew me into this historical fiction offering. Although I know little about this time in Scotland, Kearsley made sure to describe the political situations when the scenes required it. These brief descriptions made me understand locations and attitudes so much better than the author assuming I knew that historical period. She also carefully wove in verbal sketches of the clothes and scenes, making me feel the atmosphere. With this immersion into this exciting place and time, the author pulled the wool over my eyes and fooled me throughout the majority of the novel. I so loved the ending, it is worth the time spent to learn all these characters and their stories. I appreciate the ecopy of this book, given freely for an honest review.

Title: The Vanished Days
Author: Susanna Kearsley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
@bookmarked
Genre: Historical Fiction

The Vanished Days is Historical Fiction at it’s finest. An immersive Scottish tale, with vivid characters, rich history, a touch of romance and even a little mystery too!

“It’s no small thing, hope. Without it, darkness wins. We’re it not for hope, the heart would break.”

Queen Anne, has sent money from London for Scots who took part eight years earlier in the ill-fated Darien expedition that left Scotland all but bankrupt. A young widow, Lily, comes forward to collect her husband’s portion of this money, resulting in an inquiry. The man assigned to this investigation, Adam, must determine if Lily is telling the truth. Somewhere along the way he wonders if his own troublesome feelings are blinding and misleading him.

“It’s a shame that we cannot reclaim those vanished days, and try to live them better.” “I’d not be the man I am if I had not lived every hour of them.”

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved that this was a dual narrative with both timelines historic. You don’t often see that. One time period was in the 1680s and the other was 1707. I don’t naturally gravitate towards these time periods, but I’m not sure why!? I loved it. I particularly loved learning about the Jacobite movement and a little bit about the division amongst Catholics and Protestants. I look forward to reading more from this author and time period! Yes, I believe you can learn about history reading historical fiction!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy!