Lydia Wilde and her family have two French-Canadian soldiers assigned to stay with them until a prisoner of war exchange can be made. Their presence causes stress and painful memories of the war to resurface in her brother, and Lydia wants nothing to do with either of them. Lieutenant Jean-Philippe de Sabran wants nothing to do with Lydia or her family but decides to pick up odd tasks around their house to pass his imprisonment. As they spend more and more time together, Lydia and Jean-Philippe slowly come to admire one another, and eventually fall in love. Of course, their love is a forbidden one, ill-fated from the start.

Charley Van Hoek is the new curator of Wilde House, now a museum dedicated to the ancestral home. Almost as soon as she arrives, Charley hears stories of Lydia and Jean-Philippe's tragic romance, including tales of Jean-Phillipe's ghost still haunting the property. Strange occurrences around the house aside, Charley decides to continue researching what really happened during the tumultuous years of war.

BELLEWETHER showcases Susanna Kearsley's meticulous attention to detail, bringing past and present fully to life. As always, her characters are fully realized, not perfect by any means, and readers truly come to care for them. The romance between Lydia and Jean-Philippe is a slow burn, and deeply passionate. Charley is a wonderful present-day heroine, and watching her figure things out over the course of the novel is captivating. I found this time period in American and Canadian history fascinating, and one that isn't often explored in such rich detail. The plot wasn't as intriguing as some of Kearsley's other books, but the overall story was enjoyable, and the dual timeline and alternating viewpoint structure worked well, as it has in her previous novels.

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