Review of The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith

THE STORY OF LAND AND SEA is beautifully written with exquisite prose.​  

The main character is Helen whose story is told before and after her death along with the tale of her husband, her father, her daughter, and Moll, a slave from the plantation and Helen's friend.

You will follow the characters through their lives on a plantation, on a ship, and in a regular household.  The characters are an odd sort but ones with depth and with feelings that ooze through the pages simply because of Ms. Smith’s elegant writing style. 

THE STORY OF LAND AND SEA takes the reader through complex situations with the reader being put directly into the story and being carried along with the characters and feeling every emotion especially their pain of loss. 
 
I was a bit confused at first, but Ms. Smith writes so beautifully and so poignantly that you can't help but want to continue. THE STORY OF LAND AND SEA is a book unlike any other I have read simply because of the storyline and the time in history.​

​The confusion came about because of the time frame and order of dates.  The book moves back and forth from past to present day in Helen and John's life but seemed to be out of order.

Despite the confusion, the book definitely will keep your interest and will keep you reading.  Ms. Smith has written a thoughtful book in a time period that I wasn't familiar with and therefore  made THE STORY OF LAND AND SEA even more intriguing and interesting.

I would recommend this book solely on the premise of the marvelous writing style Ms. Smith has and the background she gave as to why she wrote the book.  The beauty of the reason Ms. Smith wrote the book makes THE STORY OF LAND AND SEA a stunning debut.  4/5 (See her video below)

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.​



The Author's Website:  

http://www.katysimpsonsmith.com/