Kathryn Lynn Davis

I really enjoyed this book at first. It tells the story of Tanu, a Salish Indian girl who her people believe has the powers of a healer or Shaman. After a tragedy in her village, Tanu leaves to attend residential school where she is called Saylah. Saylah then goes to live with a settler family, the Ivys where she brings her powers of healing the soul to the dying father (Jamie) and brooding son (Julien).

However, the book is long (549 pages) and the story became too melodramatic over time. show more Saylah's "Indian wisdom" grew cliched, Jamie's dying, apparantly of nothing but his own determination to do so, was tedius.

It was also clear that the author knows little of the history of Canada's residential school system. At the time in which the story is set, it is extremely unlikely that a young girl would enter such a school voluntarily. Indian children were forced into these schools, often abused, and this has left a sad legacy that Canada continues to deal with. The Ivy family's acceptance of Julian's love for a "half-breed" would also be exceptional in that time period.

As I said, I was enjoying this story at the beginning, but the author didn't know when to stop and the story became more unbelievable, wrought with juvenile-style angst and tedius as it went on, and on, and on. show less

Memorable quote:

“I was mistaken about everything, it seems, and have been for years. I learned to value success over virtue and manipulation over kindness.”

This is not my ordinary read and I don’t believe it follows the ordinary structure of a novel. Four stories are woven into one with chapters of various lengths, sometimes even a page. I understand why Davis did this. It has created a powerful, deeply moving story, and when speaking to my husband about it, I was again in tears. The show more subplots are quite large as Davis pulls the reader into each story all with heartache. Eventually the stories converge.

My historical reads, more often than not, end with a happily ever after. This one ended with hope and unresolved life situations. I hope Davis continues taking us down the path of new beginnings for the main protagonist, Saylah, born from the Salish Indians, originated in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and British Columbia, as well as her daughter’s, who also feels the earth beneath her feet. I need to know what happens next!

Davis wrote with such passion and detail, I often wondered if she has any Indian ancestors. Saylah holds magic within her spirit, grounded to the earth. She left her tribe to marry Julian. The two grew together and healed past life tragedies. Choices have to be made. Both worlds can’t all be hers, her tribe expects more from her, and Saylah’s previous life calls her.

Julian Ivy, Saylah’s husband, with his need of doing something right in his life, brings the family to Vancouver Island, joins a friend, Devon, working in a newspaper company publishing The Voice. They, both, are passionate about helping those who don’t have a voice for justice and work to give them that right which then endangers his wife and children.

Devon has a past with Barrett, the owner of a factory where the workers work for little and work in poor conditions. He doesn’t like him at all. He has temper control issues and very often acts without thinking. That fault nearly kills his best friend, Julian.

Agatha, Barrett’s wife, is an extremely complex and proud woman. She is compelled to do the Ivy’s harm, using Smith, a greedy man to do her dirty work. In the end she loses her integrity, pride and security.

The character, Mathilde, relieves tension as the stories builds. She is Simone de Marchand’s maid. Simone has had a difficult life. She left her son when he was very young, not because she wanted to, but she needed to protect her husband and Julian. Her life has been an unhappy one. She leaves France when she is free to, and hopes to see her son again. The rub, of course, is her son is angry with her for leaving him.

So much is happening in this story, all quite emotional. One underlying theme: To love someone totally and completely, you may be asked to let them go. Another: Forgiveness will lighten your heart when done with sincerity. Another: To gain people’s loyalty, respecting them and asking the possible goes a long way towards that end.

If you enjoy long stories with depth portraying the best and worst of men, this be surely one of them. show less

I bought this book on impulse for twenty-five cents at a discount book store. It was sitting on the counter when I checked out. I had no clue what to expect from it, but it turned out to be a fantastic historical fiction novel, with a light romantic element. The story is set in the Scottish Highlands about the 14th century. Muriella Calder is the heir to vast properties when her father dies shortly after her birth. She becomes a pawn as different factions seek to control her inheritance. show more There is a lot of political intrigue, a few sex scenes and very well developed characters. A surprising delight. show less

Too Deep for Tears is one of those big meaty historical novels you can really sink your teeth into. It seems to have been marketed as a historical romance but this is somewhat misleading. Although there are love stories within the book it is not a traditional romance novel. It is historical fiction with romantic subplots.

The book is the story of Charles Kittredge's three daughters. Charles was a British diplomat who traveled the world and was forced for different reasons to abandon all three show more of his daughters. The novel is divided up into 4 separate smaller books. One book for each of the daughters and a fourth when they all return to Scotland to meet one another and their father.

Since the book was set up as four small novels I'm going to review each separately as I felt differently about each one.

The first book is about Ailsa the daughter of Charles and Mairi - Charles was married to Mairi but there relationship ended soon after as Mairi could not bring herself to leave the glen in Scotland and travel with Charles. This book was by far my favourite. It was longer then the the other three books and part of that may be why since I spent so much more time with Ailsa. Ailsa story starts out with her in Scotland and has her leave the man she has loved all her life to marry an English man who promises to show her the world. Ailsa and Williams story is very bittersweet it is obvious he is head over heels in love with her and although Ailsa cares very much for him her heart is still with Ian in the glen. This story was so well written I felt everything Ailsa felt and the ending of this story was one of the most perfect endings I've ever read.

Li-an is Charles second daughter who he had to leave behind in China when the government - fed up with all the foreigners taking advantage of them tried to have him killed. In order to escape with his life he was forced to leave Li-an and her mother and never come back. This was very hard on Li-an as her and her mother were always under suspicion after that - also Li-an's blue eyes gave her away as a foreigner and she was forced to always hide who she was. I found it very hard to connect with Li-an and this was my least favourite story of the four. Li-an's hatred of her father and her heritage are a large part of what makes her who she is and it makes her hard to like. Li-an's story is also very tragic but I found I was not all that much affected by it. The relationship between Li-an and Chau was developed over a fairly short period of time and I couldn't believe their relationship.

The third book was about Genevra whose mother had an affair with Charles which resulted in Genevra. Genevra lives in India as part of the British colony. Charles was present in Genevra's life until he was once again forced to leave the country as he was needed elsewhere. After he left Genevra's mother who suffered with depression hit her breaking point and confessed to her husband. Her husband threw both her and Genevra out of his home and Genevra was eventually abandoned with her unloving Aunt and Uncle. Genevra life was always difficult as she battled many of the same demons her mother did and was ostracized by the british community living in India and found herself relating more to the indians which only isolated her further. Although Genevra was filled with alot of the same bitterness as Li-an she didn't allow it to completely change who she was and I was able to sympathize with her.

The fourth book has all three sisters traveling to Scotland to see their father before he dies. This part of the book I found sort of anti-climatic as Charles is very ill and isn't able to really work things out with his daughters as he should.

Although I had a few minor quibbles (Li-ans story and the fourth book were only so so for me). As a whole I really enjoyed this book. All three sisters have the gift of second sight and throughout all the stories when they were in desperate need of comforting they would visit one another in their dreams. The way the abandonment by their father has shaped each sister was also done very well and you could see how it shaped the women they became.

If you like really in depth long historical novels I highly recommend this one. show less