Do you ever have a moment in the bookstore when you are drawn to a book, and you know you'll love even before you read it? It happens all the time to me! All the time!! I know the bookstore by heart. I've been going there since I was just a little kid, I know all the books on the shelves and their titles, even if I never pick them up. I've seen The Winter Sea a thousand times without ever really taking notice of it, but for some reason a few days ago, when my mom wanted me toleave the house while she was doing a project for my grad party, I walked in, grabbed the book, payed, and walked out. It was as simple as that. The Winter Sea if a book about a writer from America (who is of scottish descent) who has what is called "genetic memory." This means (obviously) that she has the memory of her ancestors. She goes to this place in Scotland to start her book, where there are the ruins of slains castle. Then as she goes on with her life, she gains the story from the sping of 1708, when the scottish people were trying to bring back exiled James Stewart to reclaim his crown. If you don't know the story of James Stewart then I can give you an overview, but I am not an expert (as hard as I try to be).
THe story is that the queen had James Stewart, but the king wouldn't acknoledge the boy as his son. So the queen escaped with James as a baby to france, where he grew up. I think that is the basic idea anyway...
There was romance in this book, history, culture, and a connection to modern-day people.
I really love the idea of a genetic memory, because my mom says that she thinks everything is genetic. In my family there is a thing called the "gordon gene" whichis responsible for my family's rosy cheeks, cheery dispositions, good moral character, and intelligence/respect for knowledge. It is a real thing, it runs in the family. I'm telling you, if you were in a room with my family you would be able to tell right away who got the "gordon gene." My mom is always telling me I have it too, but I'm not too sure.
Another thing I could appreciate was the search for ancestors. I haven't done too much researching on mine, but I don't exactly have to. Maybe I could find out more about my family if I dug into it, but as for now I've got a few generations back, and I'm content.
There is a part in the novel when sophia says "my heart is forever heldby this place." That quote is so haunting, so real. I felt it myself. With my grandfather dying recently, I've been thinking of my years living with him. I was so happy with them. I felt so alive in their household. At one point I wanted to change my name to Gordon because I felt my mother's family better represented me. Its only been four years since I moved out, and I miss the warmth of that household. The thought that I'll never be able to go in again hurts. I try not to think about it sometimes. I can't help but think that I left my heart there, and maybe that's why I feel like I should leave and feel like I should stay at the same time. That part of the book touched me so much. Granted, it gave me hope that if my heart really in at 8 Donny dr, maybe that can change, or morph...or divide..? I'm not sure how to explain it. Basically, I'm young, there is still so much to look forward to.
I admit that I don't normally like when authors go back in time. I feel like there is sometimes a disconnect with the characters and readers when they do that. I couldnt finish "a dragonfly in amber" becuase the author put the characters directly back into the modern-day time, without me knowing what happened. I felt like I didnt know the characters anymore. I just couldnt get through the summary of past events either. This book was different because the character stayed in her time period, and looked back on past events, and I surprised myself with how much I loved it. There was just something nice about the way the past and present connected. Everything flowed so effortlessly. The story was nice and long, and it kept you guessing forever. Even the ending, though it was simple, put everything together nicely.
I love the cover of this book. It reminds me of the cover on "seven tears into the sea."
QUOTES (because you know I have to):
“But life, if nothing else, had taught her promises weren't always to be counted on, and what appeared at first a shining chance might end in bitter disappointment.”
“..the fields might fall to fallow and the birds might stop their song awhile; the growing things might die and lie in silence under snow, while through it all the cold sea wore its face of storms and death and sunken hopes...and yet unseen beneath the waves a warmer current ran that, in its time, would bring the spring.”
“Men who watch, and say little, very often are much wiser than the men they serve.”
“Ye'll never best your fears until ye face them”
"Hope rarely enters into it. Tis action moves the world....[in] the game of chess, mind that: ye cannot leave your men to stand unmoving on the board and hope to win. A soldier must first step upon the battlefield if does mean to cross it.”
“So, you see, my heart is held forever by this place," she said. "I cannot leave.”
“I do promise that you will survive this. Faith, my own heart is so scattered round the country now, I marvel that it has the strength each day to keep me standing. But it does,' she said, and drawing in a steady breath she pulled back just enough to raise a hand to wipe Sophia's tears. 'It does. And so will yours.'
'How can you be so sure?'
'Because it is a heart, and knows no better.”
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