Review ~ Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams

Harper Collins
November 2015

When I started to read Along the Infinite Sea I had no idea that it was part of a set of books featuring the Schuyler Sisters, and as this is the final book, I feel that I have somehow missed out on something quite special.

The story opens with a well-designed overture in 1937 and the introduction to the second central character, Annabelle Dommerich, who is attending a function at the Paris Ritz, and the appearance of a man extravagantly dressed in formal black and white points, who seems to be connected to Annabelle in an altogether alluring way.

What then follows is a duel time story, which is split equally between Annabelle's life during the troubled years in Paris and Berlin during 1936/1937, and Pepper Schuyler's rather timely meeting with Annabelle, in Palm Beach in 1966. The significance of the 1936 Mercedes Special Roadster, and of both Annabelle's and Pepper's connection to it, is revealed in a compelling story which is filled with heart breaking secrets and devastating loss.

The story is well done, with both time sections of the story being complete within themselves and with neither one trying to outshine the other, and yet, if I'm honest, I think that I preferred Annabelle's story in war torn Europe, which to me,just felt ,rather more compelling. Perhaps, not really knowing Pepper's back story, or that of her family, did sort of slow down her part in the story, and maybe those who have read books one and two in the series would understand Pepper's complex and, at times, irrational behaviour rather more than I did.

Overall, I thought that the story finished reasonably well. In Annabelle's story all the loose ends are seemingly tied up, but by having no knowledge of what had gone before for Pepper, I found that I was slightly nonplussed by her and was left with the feeling of wanting to know more...

Best read with a glass of robust red wine and hunks of bread and cheese...

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My thanks to Jaime Frost at Harper Collins for my copy of Beyond the Infinite Sea.

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