The Curiosity Cabinet by Catherine Czerkawska - first published in 2005
Alternate chapters of the book tell of the experiences of two women while they are staying on the same fictional island of Garve/Eilean Garbh but more than 300 years apart. The parallel stories are linked by the island itself and by an embroidered curiosity cabinet.
In the present day recently divorced Alys revisits Garve, a place where she enjoyed several childhood holidays. She meets up again with local fisherman Donal McNeill, with whom she and her brother played as children and this time she falls in love with him. In the 17th century Henrietta is kidnapped while travelling from her home in Linlithgow to visit her brother and sister-in-law in Edinburgh. She is taken to Eilean Garbh where, once she has got over the initial shock, she finds herself falling in love with Manus McNeill, the man who was paid to kidnap her. The link between the two stories is that Donal is a descendant of Manus McNeill and the embroidered curiosity cabinet, which once belonged to Henrietta, has been passed down his family through the generations and is displayed in the island's hotel, where it catches Alys's eye.
I started off enjoying the present day story the most but gradually became more interested in Henrietta's story. 7/10
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