Title: A Sea of GlassAuthor: Gail Avery Halverson
Series: Stockbridge #3
Published by: Gail Avery Halverson on Sep. 20, 2023
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 360
Format: Paperback
Source: Gail Avery Halverson
Book Rating: 9/10
In this rich, absorbing tale, Gail Avery Halverson continues the remarkable saga of Lady Catherine Abbott and Simon McKensie that began with the multiple award-winning novels, The Boundary Stone and The Skeptical Physick. Sweeping us from a quaint village in England to Colonial Boston and to the beautiful evils of 17th century Barbados, Gail Avery Halverson has once again written a truly compelling and unforgettable novel.
After a wrenching, heartbreaking tragedy, Catherine yearns for the safety and familiarity England, but when a free, black woman attempts to accomplish the unthinkable, Catherine is forced to decide where her future lies.
When a daring investment in the lucrative 17th century Barbados sugar trade takes a horrifying turn, Simon must at last set his dedication for medicine and scientific discovery aside and face the true ugliness of slavery.
Joining the multitude of courageous souls in the first waves of the Great Migration from England to America, Simon and Catherine McKensie lay witness to the forging of a new country, the first seeds of violent rebellion against the Crown, and the bitter tentacles of a slave trade just beginning to take root.
Review:
Captivating, immersive, and adventurous!
A Sea of Glass is a vivid, atmospheric tale that picks up where The Skeptical Physick left off, taking us back to the mid-1600s and into the lives of Simon, Catherine and their loved ones as they start their new lives in Boston, struggle with the horrifying commonplace of slavery, and head out on the high seas on a rescue mission that gives them a front row seat to the rare beauty of the landscape but also the barbaric ugliness of life on the sugar plantations of Barbados.
The prose is insightful and engaging. The characters are dependable, resourceful, and empathetic. And the plot is a tender, enlightening tale full of life, loss, love, courage, sacrifice, pirates, savagery, injustice, slavery, family, friendship, thrilling escapades, and life in early Boston.
Overall, A Sea of Glass is another fascinating, creative, engrossing read by Halverson that does a brilliant job of highlighting her undoubtable passion and tireless research into seventeenth-century Boston and the political tensions and attitudes that governed and ruled it.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to Gail Avery Halverson for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About Gail Avery Halverson
Award-winning writer, Gail Avery Halverson, is the author of The Boundary Stone, and its sequel, The Skeptical Physick, a historical romance novel set in 1666 England at the time of the Great Fire and the Scientific Revolution. The Boundary Stone is a Chaucer Award Finalist (historical fiction), a Cygnus Award Finalist (speculative fiction), and a Chatelaine Award Winner (historical romantic fiction). The Skeptical Physick is currently long-listed for both the Chatelaine and the Chaucer Awards. Ms. Halverson is also the writer/producer for “Take it From The Top,” (sitcom pilot, Twin One Productions, Inc.), as well as the playwright and composer of musical plays that have been performed for nearly 300,000 children since 2004. Writing for both theater and television, she holds a B.A. in English Literature/Communications from the University of California, Davis, and is currently at work on the third novel in the Stockbridge Series. She lives in Northern California with her husband and son.
Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.
