Title: The Summer Country  

Author: Lauren Willig  

Genre: Historical Fiction    

Publisher: William Morrow  

Format: Paperback

Pages: 480

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

The New York Times bestselling historical novelist delivers her biggest, boldest, and most ambitious novel yet—a sweeping, dramatic Victorian epic of lost love, lies, jealousy, and rebellion set in colonial Barbados.

1854. From Bristol to Barbados. . . .

Emily Dawson has always been the poor cousin in a prosperous merchant clan—merely a vicar’s daughter, and a reform-minded vicar’s daughter, at that. Everyone knows that the family’s lucrative shipping business will go to her cousin, Adam, one day. But when her grandfather dies, Emily receives an unexpected inheiritance: Peverills, a sugar plantation in Barbados—a plantation her grandfather never told anyone he owned.

When Emily accompanies her cousin and his new wife to Barbados, she finds Peverills a burnt-out shell, reduced to ruins in 1816, when a rising of enslaved people sent the island up in flames. Rumors swirl around the derelict plantation; people whisper of ghosts.

Why would her practical-minded grandfather leave her a property in ruins? Why are the neighboring plantation owners, the Davenants, so eager to acquire Peverills—so eager that they invite Emily and her cousins to stay with them indefinitely? Emily finds herself bewitched by the beauty of the island even as she’s drawn into the personalities and politics of forty years before: a tangled history of clandestine love, heartbreaking betrayal, and a bold bid for freedom.

When family secrets begin to unravel and the harsh truth of history becomes more and more plain, Emily must challenge everything she thought she knew about her family, their legacy . . . and herself.

Review:

thank you @harpercollinsca for sending me a copy of this book! I loved it!

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The book takes place during two different time periods. One in the early 1800s and one in the 1850s. It tells the tale of Barbados and it’s history with slavery and plantations, and the fight for freedom for people enslaved! In the 1850s, Emily comes to Barbados because she inherits a plantation from her grandfather. She comes with her cousin and his wife, and she spends her time trying to find out why the plantation was burned to the ground all those years ago, and why is she the one in possession of such a mysterious place!

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Flash back to the early 1800s and we see a different Barbados. One with slavery and rich plantations and people conspiring against each other. Charles is back from England and he has to figure out what happened while he was gone and re acclimatize himself to his surroundings. I really liked this time period of the story because I felt like I was putting together puzzle pieces, and really figuring out the history with Emily as we read through the tale! All the characters were developed well, in the sense that I think we felt what we were supposed to as readers! Loved Emily and Jenny and Charles, Mary Ann sucked!!! And Robert sucked!! This book also really places you into that time period, which I loved!! Overall great historical fiction pick!

Happy reading!