The Hands of Time by Irina Shapiro Review!

About The Hands of Time

Publication Date: December 7, 2011
Merlin Press
eBook
ASIN: B006JRO9WS

When a young American woman vanishes without a trace from a quaint fishing village on the coast of England only one person knows the truth, but he remains silent, allowing the authorities to search for her in vain, safe in the knowledge that she will never be found.  As Valerie’s bereft sister returns home alone, she struggles to understand what happened and come to terms with her terrible loss when she suddenly stumbles upon a clue that might finally shed some light on her sister’s disappearance. 

Meanwhile, Valerie Crane finds herself transported to the year 1605. Terrified and confused she turns for help to the Whitfield brothers, who take her in and offer her a home despite their misgivings about her origins. Both Alexander and Finlay Whitfield fall in love with the mysterious woman who shows up on their doorstep, creating a love triangle that threatens to consume them all.  Valerie must make her choice, deciding between the brother who will lead 
her down the path of destruction or one who will give her the love she couldn’t find in her own time.

Amazon Reviewer Praise for The Hands of Time

"I had come across this novel 'The Hands of Time', quite by chance. The thought of time travel is interesting but this was too good to be true. I devoured 

this book in one sitting!"

"The Hands of Time is a fun and emotional read. Irina Shapiro puts a clever spin on romantic time travel and takes readers' breaths away."

About the Author

Irina Shapiro was born in Moscow, Russia, where she lived until she was eleven.  In 1982 her family emigrated to the United States and settled in New York.  Due to her love of reading, Irina was able to pick up English very quickly, and was an honor student throughout her school career.  

After graduating from Bernard M. Baruch College in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in International Business, Irina worked in advertising for two years before shifting her focus to Import/Export.  She worked her way up to the position of Import Manager in a large textile house before leaving the work force in 2007 to focus on her autistic son.  

It wasn’t until Irina had been at home for some time that she began to write.  Eventually the characters began to take on a life of their own and have conversations in her head, and once she started writing her musings down the stories came easily enough.  Irina incorporated her love of history and travel into her writing to create a rich and detailed background for the characters.  Since then Irina has written eight novels.  She is currently working on book five of The Hands of Time Series.

Irina Shapiro lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children. 

For more information, please visit www.irinashapiro.com.  You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

My Thoughts

I love time travel so this book caught my eye even before I got the review request. Of course I also love medieval times so this was the perfect book for me. I actually read it in two sittings. This is the first in the series, which continues with A Leap of Faith, A World Apart, A Game of Shadows and Shattered Moments. A young woman, Valerie Crane,accompanies her sister Louisa to England where Louisa has a job chronicling some artwork. Valerie does a bit of sightseeing and ends up in an antique shop where a clock high up on a shelf catches her eye. Before she knows it she is transported back in time to 1605 and wakes up in a field. She goes to a castle that is very near where she is and that is where the story begins. The castle is occupied by two brothers, Alec and Finn who have suffered great tragedy in their lives. They take Valerie in and make her welcome. She is attracted to both brothers but marries Finn. The story takes a fateful turn as this part of the story involves the plan to assassinate King James in the Gunpowder Plot. Finn is involved in this conspiracy and is charged and executed for treason. These are turbulent times as being a practicing Catholic is not a good thing to be. This is a love story if you will, but the historic details in this book are true. 

I enjoyed the story very much and had a few teary eyed moments as the story went on. I liked the parallel story of Louisa and her attempts to figure out what happened to Valerie. 

I think that if you enjoy a historical novel with a time travel element to it, you will enjoy these series of novels.

 

I received a copy of this book for review and was not monetarily compensated for my review.