Susanna Kearsley

From the bestselling author of The Firebird, comes a new, exquisitely crafted novel of modern-day and historical intrigue. For nearly 300 years, the mysterious journal of Jacobite exile Mary Dundas has lain unread-its secrets safe from prying eyes. Now, amateur codebreaker Sara Thomas has been hired by a once-famous historian to crack the journal’s cipher. But when she arrives in Paris, Sara finds herself besieged by complications from all sides: the journal’s reclusive owner, her charming Parisian neighbor, and Mary, whose journal doesn't hold the secrets Sara expects. It turns out that Mary Dundas wasn’t keeping a record of everyday life, but a first-hand account of her part in a dangerous intrigue. In the first wintry months of 1732, with a scandal gaining steam in London, driving many into bankruptcy and ruin, the man accused of being at its center is concealed among the Jacobites in Paris, with Mary posing as his sister to aid his disguise. When their location is betrayed, they’re forced to put a desperate plan in action, heading south along the road to Rome, protected by the enigmatic Highlander Hugh MacPherson. As Mary’s tale grows more and more dire, Sara, too, must carefully choose which turning to take…to find the road that will lead her safely home.

A Desperate Fortune

Hired to crack the cipher in the journal of Jacobite exile Mary Dundas, amateur codebreaker Sara Thomas encounters complications that require her to let go of everything she thought she knew about loyalty, love, and herself.

Karen Shimek

Morgan Kinney

Southern Today Gone Tomorrow

Written by Susanna Kearsley, this novel follows two women; Sara, an amateur code breaker who has Aspergers and took the job mostly to have a job where she didn’t have to work with anyone, and 17th century Mary whose story has been unknown as her journal is written in code.

Again, this novel is written a little differently from all of Kearsley’s in that this time there is no paranormal anything. Not a bad bit, by any means, but something that the reader should be made aware of if you are reading this because it is written by her.

One aspect of the duel story lines that I enjoyed was that we got bits from the diary, but when we went back it wasn’t the diary entries we were reading, but the activities that then were recorded in the diary. So, there was a lot of detail and the author didn’t try to make the diary read like a book – it was a diary.

Sara’s Aspergers I think was handled rather well, but I think that this was a story where the historical story was far more interesting than the modern. I enjoyed Luc, he was sweet and clearly cared about her, but this was an instance when I kept just wanting to go back to Mary and MacPherson to see where their story would go. That was the more interesting of the two, and honestly it was because there was an air of mystery of “would this have a love story” and what would happen to Mary.

This is a novel that really started to tie characters together (and has cemented that I will be writing up a “report” on all of her novels and a long discussion about them.) We had one of the love interests from Mariana and Denise, the house keeper, is the sister of Thierry from The Splendour Falls. So far, that I can easily tell, this is a first. Though, I think there may have been a few other references for novels I haven’t written a review on yes.

The writing was smooth, though Sara’s character was a little awkwardly written. Just a little bit.

Again, I would recommend this book to anyone – just give it a shot. Unless you don’t like a more relaxed read. Even the scenes of action and tension just flow.

A Desperate Fortune

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