Title: A Newfound Land (The Graham Saga #4)
Author: Anna Belfrage
ISBN: 978-1781321355
Publisher: SilverWood
First Published: 30 October 2013 (Kindle) / 1 November 2013 (Paperback)
No .of pages: 398
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis (from Amazon):
It’s 1672, and Matthew Graham and his family have left Scotland. Having taken the drastic decision to leave their homeland due to religious conflicts, Alexandra and Matthew hope for a simpler, if harsher, life in the wilds of the Colony of Maryland. Unfortunately, things don’t always turn out as you want them to, and the past has a nasty tendency to resurface at the most inappropriate moments. Both Matthew and Alex are forced to cope with the unexpected reappearance of people they had never thought to meet again, and the screw is turned that much tighter when the four rogue Burley brothers enter their lives. Matters are further complicated by the strained relations between colonists and the Susquehannock Indians. When Matthew intercedes to stop the Burleys from abducting Indian women into slavery he makes lifelong – and deadly – enemies of them all. Once again Alex is plunged into an existence where death seems to threaten her man wherever he goes. Will Matthew see himself – and his family – safe in these new circumstances? And will the past finally be laid to rest? ‘A Newfound Land’ is the fourth book in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.
Review:
Although this is the fourth novel in The Graham Saga, I was surprised at how well it copes as a stand-alone story. Of course, there is a progressive story arc that obviously stretches over the whole series, but it’s incredibly easy to slip into the action, even at this stage in the story, and pick up where the previous novel left off without being intimately acquainted with the events that have already occurred. The aforementioned events are alluded to in such a way that there is a seamless enjoyment to be had here.
The female lead, Alexandra Lind, is a feisty, modern woman, very much of her time, so there are always going to be problems for her blending in entirely with the 17th century, when women didn’t really have a voice or any rights. By this point in the saga, she has carved her niche in her new world, but there are still elements that rankle her, usually to do with equality issues. This makes for a wonderful friction between Alex and her husband of now some fourteen years, as he is very firmly of his own time, some 400 years behind hers. This often serves to highlight elements of an earlier time that still have relevance today, and means the reader has cause to think about their own feelings on the subject, asking themselves how they would cope under similar circumstances.
There are definitely parallels to be made to another popular time-travel romance series (Outlander by Diana Gabaldon), and this will definitely appeal to fans of that series, but it doesn’t feel like a carbon copy or something that is trying to be like another book. Instead it freely pays homage to it while very definitely being its own thing.
The writing is both tight and evocative, plunging the reader into the past and forcing one to consider the harsh realities of frontier living, whilst also feeling very grateful for the modern conveniences now absent from the heroine’s life. The characters jump off the page, almost living and breathing in front of one’s eyes, ensuring total immersion on Belfrage’s time travel drama, leaving one breathless when one reaches the conclusion.
Reviewed by Kell Smurthwaite at the request of the publisher
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