Sky Watcher: A Shadow in Time by Heather Lynn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book pulls you in and doesn’t let go. The author has a magical component that she adds to her writing, which makes you live the characters’ lives rather than simply read about them.

“Sky Watcher: A Shadow in Time” by Heather Lynn is a story about Charlotte. At twenty-two, her life has thrown too many curveballs at her. When it becomes too much, Charlotte decides to do something reckless. She decides to save a distant relative from death. It doesn’t stop her that Elizabeth, whom she’d never known existed before she’d begun researching her family history, died almost two centuries ago. Using Wiccan practices, she attempts to perform a spell that should transport her into the nineteenth century. And it works.

Charlotte doesn’t travel to the past unprepared. Her education in the field of medicine and vast knowledge of herbs and their healing qualities prove to be of utmost importance. Besides, she makes sure to learn how to prepare the things she won’t find in a 19th-century store.

Armed with the homemade shampoo and soap recipes, Charlotte travels from Canada to the US, to the place where she knows that Elizabeth was caught by the authorities, accused of witchcraft and hanged. From there, her journey back in time begins.

When Charlotte arrives at her destination, she doesn’t have time to dwell on the shock of having actually accomplished her impossible plan. The realities of the nineteenth century ask for more from people if they want to survive. There is no time to think, only to act. It seems that Charlotte gets rewarded for her courage and determination. The first people she meets agree to help her with the basics: a roof above her head and a job to earn her keep. And the first house she enters becomes her home.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the inhabitants of the small town who, with every chapter, became more like next-door neighbours than fictional characters. Gradually introducing readers to people’s lives, always a kaleidoscope of happiness, despair, doubt, prejudice, luck, and tragedy, the author makes us feel part of the community. Although I am far from romanticising the past, the charm of a simpler lifestyle seeped under my skin from the vivid descriptions. I was so invested in the story that, I confess, some episodes had me close to tears.

I also loved the complex relationships that Charlotte formed with different people she met in the past. The author handles this aspect beautifully.

It wasn’t in Charlotte’s plan to form strong friendships and fall in love. Yet, it isn’t in human nature to remain detached from the environment one finds oneself in. As it isn’t destiny’s way to make it easy for most. And Charlotte, having interfered with fate’s dealings by breaking the rules of time, would not evade the implications such audacity is bound to bring.

The book ends with a head-spinning cliffhanger. It left me eager to learn what awaits Charlotte next – whether we should say ‘in the future’ or ‘in the past’ remains a controversy that I hope to solve by continuing to read the Sky Watcher series.



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Sky Watcher: A Shadow in Time