The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley is intricate, utterly fascinating and impossible to put down. A combination of expected and unexpected time travel moves the plot to and fro in time. Chapter headings help the reader know which timeline they are reading. The story starts in an England that lost at the Battle at Trafalgar where the French captured the land.
The Kingdoms opens with Joe Tournier stepping off a train into a London that has become a colony of France. He can speak in French and English, however speaking English is illegal, and, beside that and his name, he doesn’t remember anything more from past. A kind person takes him to a clinic, where it’s determined he has epilepsy and that has made him lose his memory. Eventually, he meet with his wife and his master. Yes, in this alternate London, slavery happens and Joe and his wife are owned by a kind older man. This old man seems to love Joe very much.
Joe battles with his memory loss, however the arrival of a strange postcard marked “M” with an image of the Eilean Mor lighthouse starts his journey. The journey to recover his lost memory. Eventually freed, yet at the same time residing with his previous master, Joe and his better half have a cute young girl Joe gets connected to. He additionally, drove by the postcard, winds up working for the very man who provided the machinery for the lighthouse on the postcard and winds up being shipped off to fix it.
Joe is hesitant to leave his little daughter, however he’s pulled by who the strange M is and thinks going to the lighthouse will help him to find out what’s happening. It winds up driving him into the past, offering him the chance to fix the timeline right, to reunite him with M, however it likewise comes at a terrible cost Joe probably won’t pay.
This historical fiction and magical story is lovely and pulled me in so smoothly that I didn’t have a clue how enchanted I was until I put the book down in the centre and nearly couldn’t stand to. The romance is slow-burn yet in addition so clear that I’m uncertain how the characters didn’t see it sooner.
I experienced difficulty is the start of this story. It is mainly because you know precisely as much as the primary character does and he is suffering from memory loss. This, in theory, is an exceptionally fascinating approach to be lead into the story, but at the same time it’s aggravating. The more you discover, the less you know. Due to this i was unable to completely understand what was going on. But I loved this story and imagine rereading it to be with Jem and Joe and Kite again.
I would absolutely recommend The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley. Especially I would recommend it to anyone looking for historical fiction filled with magic.
Also Read: Somebody’s daughter: By ashley C. Ford
