TBR Day: BEAU CRUSOE by Carla Kelly

Beau Crusoe by Carla Kelly. Published March 2007. Harlequin Historical Regency.

Keishon's TBR Challenge really has me on a roll reading some older stuff. Also, I figure it's incentive to keep things going if I have to read another book from the tower of tubs that is my tbr. How's that for some right thinking, huh?

Secondly, and more importantly, I really enjoyed this book and I love sharing that sort of news. Why I waited to read this gem I don't know. I remember buying the book, my first Carla Kelly, because there was a lot of buzz about it when it came out.

Our hero James Trevenen was stranded on an island for seven years after a storm shipwrecks the vessel he serves on. Desperately lonely, James studies crabs on the island and writes a treatise of sorts about them. James has come to London to receive a special medal and recognition for his scientific studies and observations.

James ends up staying at the family home of Susannah Park a widow with a young son. Susannah's father has been asked by a family friend, Susannah's godfather, to have James stay with them a couple of weeks before the ceremony. This is all under the guise that James will have someone to show him around London and not have to stay alone in a hotel.

The meeting of these two people is so tender and poignant. James is intelligent, honorable, and lonely. He's a man who has gone through this incredible experience and while he's aware that the experience has marked him believes he's handling the aftermath fairly well. On the other side we have isolated, lonely and devoted mother Susannah. Susannah believes she's had her great love and has no expectations of ever having those sorts of feelings again.

Ms. Kelly does a wonderful job of giving us a peek into the lives of these two seemingly ordinary people who are both struggling with extraordinary circumstances. I enjoyed the book very much for the subtle and skillful way Ms. Kelley reveals that there's much more to know about what happened to James on the island just as there is to understanding Susannah's reason for isolated servitude on her family's estate.

This is a wonderful story told well with a lot of character and charm. Needless to say I'm going to start looking for Ms. Kelley's back list.

B+ for me on this one.