Customer Reviews

Mariana

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

That one word sums up my elation at finishing this book. I took this book at a leisurely pace because I didn't want to rush it, and it wasn't so engrossing for me at first to have to rush into. I'm glad I did this because this is one that lingers. I read "The Shadowy Horses" first and can honestly say that I enjoyed this one more, I'm currently reading "Splendour Falls", which was I believe before "Mariana", and so far it has me quite intrigued.

Ms. Kearsley does justice to both Mariana and Julia. The blend of History and Romance is dare I say it?.... Sweet. I loved the relationship between Julia and her brother. I love the whole "soul mate" feel in this book. It reminded me of "A Knight in Shining Armor" by Jude Deveraux although this moved at an entirely different pace and the ending brought tears to my eyes. This past weekend I found myself picking up this book again and re-reading some parts. It was JUST THAT GOOD.

Happy Reading

I can't possibly begin to describe what a wonderful book this is. The author drags you into the story until you become so immersed in it that you can't put the book down. Even after the last page is read the images remain with you for a long time. This is one of those books that can be read and reread and not lose its magic. I have lent Mariana to many of my friends and everyone has loved it. I believe that, with this book, we are seeing the emergence of a great storyteller.

Ms Kearsley handles 21st century woman, Julia Becket's transformational flashbacks into the life of 16th century handmaiden, Mariana, with about as much reality as anyone could expect when dealing with such an improbable happening. She does it well. Never once when reading this story about a savvy young Londoner who chucks her enervating city life for one in a small village, did I think Julia's decision a foolish one or fathom Ms Kearsley's telling of it silly. On the contrary, I found Julia's flashbacks engrossing, enjoying thoroughly Kearsley's meshing of the past and present as well as my own attempts to correctly match the past souls with the present bodies. The hypothesis of the old house retaining the passion of a past event is one that reoccurs in some of Barbara Erskine's novels, particularly "House of Shadows". While Ms Erskine dwells mainly on the supernatural, Ms Kearsley, more satisfactorily uses the metaphysical elements of her story to heighten the romance. Don't hestitate to pick up a copy of this Catherine Cookson Fiction Prize winner; it certainly is well done and worth your time if you favor a good story interjected with realistic romance!

I am so ecstatic that I happened to find this book! I read this book in ONE SITTING - could not put it down! Julia / Mariana is a wonderful heroine, Richard (her lover in a previous life) is definitely someone I would love to meet and I'm fascinated by the reincarnation theme. This book makes you FEEL everything that Julia / Mariana feel and felt and, believe me, the ending is a stunner - absolutely fantastic! GET THIS BOOK !

I have read The Sahdowy Horses, and thought that it was a marvelous book, and that Mariana did not look quite as good as that. But once I started reading, I was unable to put the book down! The way Ms.Kearlsey wove a tale of the past and present together so magnificently was amazing! I fell in love with the characters too! And the ending was wonderful, compleltly not expected!

Started reading this on the plane returning from England and a week spent (happy coincidence!) with my husband in the Cotswolds. Reading about the places we had just visited made everything in the book seem much more relevant. I love this author and will buy all her offerings as they become available. I am giving "Mariana" and "The Shadowy Horses" to my sister who lives in England and enjoys a good "ghost story" as much as I do...having met one personally herself. We are both great fans of Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters. What treat to find another author who writes much in the same vein.

Susanna Kearsley writes books that are just pure fun to read, and Mariana is no exception. It is the story of Julia Beckett, and a 16th-century house that she is strangely drawn to, though she has only seen it three brief times in her life. The first was at age 5; the second was at age 25. When she stumbles on the house again at age 30, and discovers that it is uninhabited and for sale, she quickly buys it. Feeling a strong tie to the house, she gladly leaves London to take up a new life in a small village.

Julia quickly discovers the reason she has always been so drawn to the house; 300 years before it had been the home of a young woman named Mariana and, through a series of time regression events, Julia realizes that she is Mariana. Julia embraces this knowledge and eagerly steps back in time as much as possible, longing to know more about Mariana and her ultimate fate. As the past gradually unfolds it reveals Mariana's blossoming romance with a neighboring aristocrat, Richard. Over time, and through many regression episodes, Julia learns what happened to Mariana and Richard, and finally realizes that, in order to close the circle and find happiness for herself and closure for Mariana, she must find the present-day man who embodies Richard just as she embodies Mariana.

As I said, Susanna Kearsley's books are truly fun to read, and it is this fun that helped me suspend some expectations of realism that this book demands in order to fully enjoy it. Foremost is the too-glib acceptance -- by Julia and by everyone else who knows of her regressive episodes -- of Julia's embodiment of a 300-year old "ghost" and her frequent slips back in time. Her brother, a vicar, immediately suggests it must be reincarnation, without even batting an eye. Julia herself seems completely untroubled by it, almost as though such things happen to people every day. And then there is Mrs. Hutherson, a neighbor who has some strange psychic sense that enables her to know exactly what Julia is experiencing without even being told, and to know in advance how everything is going to turn out. However, I quickly accepted that this was a fun story, fanciful rather than realistic, and settled back to enjoy the ride.

A hallmark of Kearsley's books is the smooth, witty dialogue and easy friendships she always creates between her characters. People who have only just met slide effortlessly into friendships and relationships that are completely free of conflict, and even total strangers are always friendly. No, this isn't realistic (at least, not in the world I inhabit) but this, too, is part of the fun of a Susanna Kearsley book and provides the "escapist" element. I enjoy slipping into the worlds she creates, wishing I could know such witty and wonderful people myself!

Mariana was a very fast read, a nice break from "weightier" material, and Kearsley throws in a couple of nice little twists at the end. The reincarnation element was done with a light and easy hand; the book doesn't have even the hint of a sinister feeling. I didn't like this one quite as much as "The Shadowy Horses", but I like it better than her others I have read.

On a side note -- what is up with the cover? The photo doesn't go with the book at all. The story is about a young English woman in the 1990s who regresses in time back to the 1600s. The photo -- with its dark-skinned, bare arms -- looks like a woman from the Caribbean. Huh?

I was introduced to Canadian author Susanna Kearsley through a blog interview. Interested enough to visit her Web page, I became intrigued with Mariana and its premise. I don't usually read paranormal, however, the setting for Mariana, a book that's set both in the present and in the time of Charles II, captures the flavor of English country life and interesting village houses to perfection.

Written in first person, the reader is introduced to Julia Beckett, an illustrator of children's books. She first spotted Greywethers, a sixteenth century house in the Wiltshire village of Exbury, when she was five years old.A second visit when she was a young woman, increased her interest, and a third visit as a thirty-year-old, fresh with an inheritance from her aunt, had her purchasing the house on the spot.

Julia encounters several villagers who take a liking to her, including Iain, a Scottish farmer/gardener, Geoffrey de Mornay, owner of Crofton Hall, Vivien, local pub owner and others. However, Julia is unprepared for her introduction to Mariana, a young woman who lived at Greywethers three hundred years earlier. What at first begins as a brief sojourn into another time, becomes more frequent and anticipated as Julia becomes involved in the lives of people long dead. Greywethers seem to be telling Julia something, and she is determined to find out.

Meanwhile, she develops friendships with de Mornay, Iain and Vivien, vacillating between periods when she is Julia and periods when she is Mariana.

This is a love story, beautifully told. The village is real enough to be a character, and the characters both interesting and well-fleshed-out.Ms. Kearsley's writing is dynamic and captivating, the story so interesting I couldn't put it down.

Just when you think you've figured out the plot, Ms. Kearsley delivers a surprise. This is page-turning excellence from the beginning to the exciting conclusion. You'll find each character strong and interesting. I loved the interaction between Julia and her brother, and I loved Mariana's love affair with Richard. I truly felt Julia's dilemma.

Susanna Kearsley deftly weaves both present day and seventeenth century stories together seamlessly. I'll be looking for more stories by this talented author.

First Line: I first saw the house in the summer of my fifth birthday.

I've discovered over the years that some houses have the power of speech. When I first moved to Phoenix, I walked to work every morning and passed a slightly down-at-heels 1950s ranch house. Nothing about it would draw anyone's attention, but for some reason each time I walked by, I got gooseflesh-- and the feeling that the house was sad. A year later I happened to be watching the evening news and found out that police had shut down a house of prostitution specializing in S&M... in that same sad little ranch house.

At the age of five Julia Beckett had a house speak to her, and twenty-five years later she finds the house once again. Flush with an inheritance from an aunt, Julia buys Greywethers, a sixteenth-century farmhouse in Wiltshire. She moves in and finds the villagers very friendly and helpful-- so much so that she finds it difficult to get to work illustrating a book of fairy tales. Bit by bit, Julia learns the rudimentary history of Greywethers and the young woman, Mariana, who lived there three hundred years ago. It seems that Mariana has been waiting for her.

I've read two books recently that I would label romantic suspense. It's a genre that I seldom touch because the romance usually takes precedence over everything else in the story. That's definitely not the case here. Mariana is a fun read. Julia is an engaging character living in a fascinating house. Both time lines-- Julia's modern day time and Mariana's-- grabbed my attention equally. Normally one time line tends to be stronger than the other, but Kearsley avoids that completely, and the plot is not formulaic; it had more than one surprise for me.

If you're in the mood for a fast, entertaining read that has a fascinating old house, a mystery that spans the centuries, and a light touch of romance, Mariana could be just the book for you.

This is the first of Kearsley's books, and by far is my favourite. I rarely read books more than once, and I have re-read this one numerous times. Definitely worth reading.