The twists were boring and in a book like this, that’s really all you have. Well-written enough.

A captivating magical story involving passion, suspense, fairy's and all wrapped up in a delicious time hop setting. I adored this book

Ein wirklich spannender Roman mit authentischen Protagonisten!
Lesenswert für alle, die Familiengeschichten, alte Geheimnisse und Intrigen mögen.

Picked it up because I was bored and wasn't expecting to like it. I liked it a lot! The plot was perhaps a little bit naff at points but I really enjoyed it nevertheless.

I will say, I did love this book, I enjoyed reading it, the pacing was great, and the writing was so eloquent. You really get that atmosphere of what it was like in that time period, and the fantastic mystery 'mood-making,' of the environment, that was really something.

I also agree with some of the before comments, that what really gripped me was trying to figure out who was going to do what.

Cat was supposed to be the main character, but honestly, I kept finding myself disagreeing with her more and more. She acted like she was held prisoner or something, and it was disrespectful how she'd secretly admonish the Cannings because they just happened to be a higher class? They were still nice to her, their rules were fair (it's their house), and they helped her by giving her a job when she desperately needed one. I know it was supposed to come off as feisty, but it rubbed me the wrong way.

Albert, I can maybe understand some hostility there; but as a pastor, he was dealing with some hard personal struggles that were later hinted at.

Spoiler

Like being gay.

And I can't help but understand how upset he'd be, if he specifically asked you not to do one thing and you go and do it. Especially just to 'rebel.' You don't need that kind of trouble from an employee. And what, we were supposed to hate him for how angry he was to find her

Spoiler

breaking the law??

I'd be furious too!

Hester was the one I sympathized with the most. She constantly lost confidence in herself because of the marriage, and it's not even her fault. She's just trying to live as a typical wife wants to, and when she's getting these lovely messages from her sister, she's starting to wonder if something's wrong with her. She admired Cat because of her bravery, and empathized with her the most, even up to

Spoiler

giving her the key to her freedom when she saw how much it pained her to be locked away.

She was the one who convinced Albert to take her in and give her a job even though they really didn't have the money for it, and were uncomfortable with her criminal past.

Hell, even Cat's disrespect to Sophie was unwarranted, because it was her JOB to oversee the staff and make sure things are in order. She was still human, especially when it counted.

Spoiler

Like when it surprised Hester how broken up she was over Cat's death.

Even Robin was a marvellously complex person. He came off like this intrusive, mysterious villain, but when it was found out

Spoiler

(I say found out, but I mean Cat spied on his personal things)

about his family issues, everyone can understand wanting so badly to prove yourself to your parent. He'd do anything to get the recognition, even

Spoiler

choosing to be jailed for a murder he didn't commit in order to refuse telling the truth of why he was really there; faking those pictures.

I love how deep and honest these characters were written, it's the best kind when they're not perfect, it makes them relatable. Even Cat, though I disagree with her opinions most of the time, my heart broke when the ending happened. It was completely unpredictable, and it would have been nice to see her happy.

Also, someone needs to look into that jail, because that treatment was ridiculous. Even for the time period. It was something else I hated, that there was this big mystery around Cat had gotten her nickname, 'black cat,' and why she had been to jail. People whisper about it like it's 'scandalous,' only to find that

Spoiler

she only went to jail for like three days for suffrage.

Nothing really big, like murder or anything. And during that time, her actions were still foolish. She claims it's because of what they did in response to her that she has this trigger trauma of not being able to be locked in anywhere, but legit, if she had only just

Spoiler

eaten her food instead of withering herself away for some stupid rebellion

it wouldn't have happened. I don't care if it was for some principal or whatever, it was stupid. How are you gonna provoke the guards like that, and then want us to feel bad when they respond??

The only thing that threw me off (aside from Cat), was how the time skip jumped back and forth. I enjoyed the past part so much, that I hated when it cut back to the present. I really didn't care about Leah, or Ryan, or Mark, I just wanted to get back to the story.

The Good Stuff

Absolutely, positively engrossing - you are hooked from the very first chapter
Author is brilliant at setting the mood and setting of the story - you really feel like you are part of the story
Loved the switching back and forth from 1911 to 2011 - gives it a unique twist
Fabulous well rounded characters both in the past and the present
Lots of suspense, murder and secrets with just a hint of the occult
Cat is a truly fascinating character - full of strength and fire, trying to fight back against the constraints of being a women in the early 1900's
Kept me up late at night reading I so badly wanted to know what happened
Will definetly be looking for a copy of the Legacy by the same author
A perfect story for a cold winters night or to lose yourself in at the cottage (or beach)
Loved how the two time period plots intersect without being unbelievable
Could see this one being turned into a movie - has it all love, sex, murder, women's rights, past and present intersecting - fabulous stuff

The Not So Good Stuff

Drags a wee bit half ay through - some stronger editing would have made this into a perfect 5 Dewey's
Wanted to smack Hester quite a few times, but her character is very true to the women of the time

Favorite Quotes/Passages

"Cat serves the dinner, digusted by the luxury, the excess; the way the theosophist turns down the meat, his expression blase, sanctimonious. How many others in the world have need of meat? Cat wonders. When now it will go back to the kitchen and spoil, and be thown away and wasted because the cold store is full of this thoughtless young mans' toys."

"Would you have been content if you had been told, when you were still a child; you shan't be a poet, or a minister, or a politician. You shall be a cleark in a bank. Would you have been content, never to have been allowed to try other things? Never allowed to find out what you wanted to do, what you wanted to be?"

Who Should/Shouldn't Read

Mystery/Suspense lovers will thoroughly enjoy this one
Fans of historical fiction will also be fascinated by this

4.5 Dewey's

I received this from WilliamMorrow in exchange for an honest review

This could have been a very good book - the bones of the historical story are good, and the characters, particularly the female ones, interesting and sympathetic.
Unfortunately the time-shift element just didn't work for me - as is often the case, one story was much more compelling than the other, and the change from the past to the modern-day interrupted the flow. It lost me a little in the middle as well, as the story seemed to meander.
I might read something by this author again, but I'd want it to be much more tightly written.

Downton Abbey has revived interest in the early 20th century, that time before the fabric of life in England was ripped apart by two world wars. I usually don't read novels set in this time period, though I'm not sure why, but I'm glad I picked up Katherine Webb's latest endeavor.

The Unseen is the story of more than one main character, and more than one time period. Set a century apart, the two stories converge with one dead World War I soldier, found well preserved in the muck of Ypres. Leah, a journalist, is called upon by her ex-boyfriend, Ryan, who works to identify war dead, to uncover the identity of this soldier, so next of kin can be finally identified. What Leah finds 100 years after the fact is enough for her to get over her humiliation at the hands of her former boyfriend, write a book and find a new love of her own in Mark Canning, great-grandson of one of the main protaganists of the story.

If this sounds complicated, it's really not. What it really is, is a mystery.

Cat Morley is imprisoned in 1911, for the crime of being an "active duty suffragette." Caught with a rock intended for a milliner's window during a protest, she is sentenced to prison. Upon her release, she is sent to Cold Ash Holt, and the Rectory, to work as a housemaid and regain her strength. She meets Albert Canning, her new employer and the vicar of the parish, and his wife Hester. Life is hard here, but good. She meets a man she falls in love with, and she also meets Robin Durrant, a self-proclaimed theosophist, who arrives when Albert claims he's seen fairies in the nearby water meadows.

The undercurrents in the household are strong. Things are not what they seem between the newly married vicar and his wife, and Robin throws the household into turmoil with his arrival and his hold over the vicar. When pictures are taken of a "elemental," or a fairy, in other words, things come to a dramatic conclusion for the Rectory's occupants.

Using two time periods works very well here. Leah meets a descendent of the Cannings, and together in 2011, they work toward solving the mystery of what happened in 1911. Once done, the identity of that soldier becomes clear, and the story ends happily for Leah. In that, we are reminded that 100 years before, the same cannot be said for the inhabitants of the Rectory.

The novel is extremely well-written, the characters fleshed out just enough for you to guess the truth about them, and there are many truths to ferret out. I love a novel that makes you think for yourself, and this is one of them. I highly recommend it.