Review: A historical romance with a touch of paranormal
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 22, 2010
This book could be given a lot of tags: it's historical, there's a mistery and there's even a touch of paranormal, but it has also a beautiful romance.For once I think that the narrator is not the character we get to know better in the book. David Flynn doesn't let the reader into his thoughts and emotions, there were a lot of occasions in which he could have let himself go, but he barely did that. What happened to him in the war and the loss of his lover are sketched, but never fully told. Even when he acknowledges his attraction and feelings for Julian, the young psychic, he seems detached. I think he feels respect for Julian, maybe also a little bit of pity, a human connection, an unquenchable attraction, but not love. I think the war and his profession caused Flynn to shut off his deepest and most uncontrollable feelings.On the other hand Julian, whom we see only through Flynn's eyes, is more accessible and he presents himself to the reader (and to Flynn) in all his physical and emotional nakedness. I don't think we would have known more about him if he had been the narrator. He is exceptionally vulnerable, but his vulnerability doesn't depend on his personality, instead it's the result of his illness and the decisions his grandfather made for him. Julian is delicate, but he is not a damsel in distress that needs to be saved by a knight in a shiny armour, he's extremely dignified. What he needs is someone who allows him to spread his wings and the part where he tells Flynn what he wants for himself is very moving.This book had the potential of a full-length novel. There was a wonderful cast of characters and each one of them could have filled pages of interesting narration. And there were also the fascinating topic of Julian's illness and the repercussion it had on his life. Looking at it through modern eyes, the way homosexuality was considered a perverted manifestation of Julian's illness is chilling.The ending is quite abrupt. While I'm reading, I usually projects in my mind my expectation of the plot, and I was already contemplating all the future developments when the story, in a few paragraphs, finished. I'm still craving for an epilogue, but, hey, I'm allowed to make up what I want, right?A lovely story and another character I've fallen in love with.