I love conspiracy theories and mysteries and The Kingdoms from Natasha Pulley incorporates the intriguing mystery of the Eilean Mor lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides and the disappearance of its lighthouse keepers into her narrative. This immediately had me on the hook.

2021 continues to be a mega year for great books and The kingdoms is no exception. It’s a clever time-slip novel bursting with wild imagination and flavoured with strong characters, romance, mystery and plenty of action and adventure. I’m not going to lie, the plot is complex spanning multiple timelines and taking the alternative history route of what would Britain be like if France had won the Battle of Trafalgar. But did I mention it has time-travel 😀. So stick with it – the complexity is part of the books charm.

Another great must read book for 2021 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of five.

Part time travel, part historical fiction, Pulley never disappoints. I loved this book. It's maybe slow for some, but I think it adds a lot of depth to the book.
beautiful writing, mysterious story are bonus on top. Loved it!
Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

Natasha Pulley can do little wrong for me - The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and THe Lost Future of Pepperharrow and The Bedlam Stacks are all wonderful with a fantastic and fantastical twist on magic and the supernatural.
The Kingdoms is very different - set in a French-governed post-Napoleonic Britain - and takes a while to get going as our main character, Joe Tournier, is an amnesiac slave who needs to rediscover his identity and his wife, become free, and finally follow the lead in a postcard he received... "Come home, if you remember"
The heart of this novel - as with Pulley's other novels - is the characters, deep, engaging, human and humane and deeply engrossing. It explores history. It explores love. It explores humanity.
This is perhaps what I wanted The Absolute Book to be!

This is a novel of many elements, a timeslip story, a love song, an alternative history lesson. At times the narrative was slow, the writing unengaging and the characters not fully fledged out. Only toward the end did the story excite. Fans of time travel e.g. Diana Garabaldon comes to mind will enjoy but the novel was not for me.

This is a book to take in slowly and savour.

The Kingdoms opens with an amnesiac man in an alternative London where the French have won the Napoleonic wars. Searching for answers our main character, Joe, ends up on a remote lighthouse in Scotland where he is kidnapped and taken back in time. There’s a lot to unpack there but Pulley does a fantastic job of introducing you gently while setting down plot clues and establishing characters.

Despite some misdirection, I think most readers will pretty quickly realise the truth behind Joe’s identity. From that moment onwards the wait is on for Joe to catch up. Knowing Joe’s identity doesn’t hamper the readers experience, in fact it adds to it. There’s a double meaning behind every event and interaction between characters.

Pulley excels at writing characters that attempt to keep themselves emotionally distant whilst also allowing the reader to connect and feel deeply for them. By the end you are so invested in them that the decisions and choices they have to make are truly heartbreaking. It really made me wonder if I would choose the same in that situation.

This is a beautiful story and the perfect blend of magic, history, complex characters and love.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was just perfection. I loved absolutely everything about it and it is now firmly my favourite read of the year so far! As always with Pulley, the characters were phenomenal and I adored the relationships. This was honestly just the perfect book for me.

The story starts with Joe arriving at a train station in late Victorian London, except it is called Londres, everyone is speaking French and the fact that Joe is speaking English is treated with suspicion.
For those familiar with fantasy tropes it is immediately obvious we have an alternative history… but this is so much more.

Joe remembers his name but nothing else from before arriving at the station. He is helped by a kind man and taken to an asylum where the doctors explain he is suffering from a relatively common form of epilepsy which causes amnesia.
During his time in the asylum Joe has the opportunity to learn some basic facts about Londres and how he is expected to behave. After a few days a kindly French man answers the asylum’s advertisement and claims he is Joe’s master. Joe, like most English people in this French colony, is a slave.

After a while, having settled into the routine of his life Joe receives a postcard sent nearly 100 years previously. Somehow the picture is of Eilean Mor lighthouse, even though it has only been built a few years, and the message reads “Dearest Joe, come home if you remember me. M”.

Is M Madeline? A name that conjures a sense of déjà vu, a vague glimpse of his past surfacing from the depths of Joe’s lost memories.
Despite Joe’s reluctance to leave his infant daughter he decides he must go to Eilean Mor.

After Joe arrives at Eilean Mor the truth about what is happening is gradually revealed to the reader and Joe, although some of the people we encounter seem to know more than they are willing to say.

I was enthralled by this story, by the fact that the characters are loving but complicated, that the women are strong and have agency. The author doesn't not make any attempt to conceal or trivialize the devastating effect of trauma and I was heart-broken by the choices the characters were forced to make.
The story drew me in so I wanted to read faster to find out what happened but also to read more slowly so it would never end.

And in the middle of this whirl pool of emotions is Missouri Kite a man who so conflicted and damaged by life, fragile but also brutal, caring but withdrawn. He is a difficult man to love but in the end I did.

This is a mystery, woven together with time-travel, a story of the violence of war and terrible decisions compelled by love and duty. But most of all it is about love.

I will be reading this again and have already ordered books from this author’s back catalogue.
Highly recommended.

A postcard with a lighthouse pictured on its front has finally been delivered to Joe Tournier after being held for ninety-one years at the Sorting Office. It’s from the Outer Hebrides, from a place called Eilean Mor.
Joe has never left London as he is a slave of the French Empire like thousands of his country folk. Unlike others Joe has flashbacks to another life where English was spoken as the first language and he has hope that this is no dream.
Risking everything he decides to find out more about the postcard and leaves French-occupied London to go to the remote Outer Hebrides. In a journey that will take him through time, he will have a battle to stay alive in hope for a very different future.
Natasha Pulley has carved out a book of pure wonder. Totally unique and incredibly enticing. A story of great imagination and truly outstanding writing.
I’ve read all her books and this might be my favourite.
Immersive, heartbreaking and emotional. A simply outstanding book and one I highly recommend.

Natasha Pulley once again treating us to a magical historical adventure with gay vibes. Loved this book!

An intriguing and likeable 'what if' book, for the full review visit https://joebloggshere.tumblr.com/post/654038542883962880/the-kingdoms-by-natasha-pulley-this-is-an

Another cracker from Natasha Pulley - unexpected, complex, beautifully written story of time travel, love across genders all set in the incredible back drop of the 19th Century.
The author is never formulaic and obviously has a love of the period she sets her stories in. The accuracy is sometimes difficult but never flinches from exploring life in 1807 or the often graphic impact of war on nations and its people.
Joe arrives in London on a train from Glasgow with no memory of who he is, helped by a stranger he is admitted to hospital to be examined and through circulation of a newspaper article is reunited with his master and his wife. The world Joe enters has followed an alternate time line where the British lost the war with France and is now a colony of that nation. Joe is a slave (though soon to be released from this status) and has to reacclimatise to this life. Two years after his arrival in London he recieves a postcard depecting a lighthous in the Outer Hebridies -Eilean Mor but sent 99 years from the past. This prompts Joe to find employment with the engineering firm who maintain the lighthouse and when the opportunity arises to make the journey to Eliean Mor in hopes of solving a mystery reaching him from the past...
The mix of timelines is deftly done with the portal for time travel seemingly a natural phenomenon providing the anchor for our characters development. It was refreshing for a novel around time travel being set, not as is usual, in the future but in a period when speculative writing on this subject was first being explored. If you want something a little different and character driven then this is the book for you.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this ARC.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

This was a very special book and I'm not really sure what to think of it. Can't write a fair review because I liked some parts but disliked others. I'm sorry I can't do better :(

It was...ok? I guess. I enjoyed the writing, felt engaged in the story for most of it. Unfortunately, it's a painfully slow book. And contrived in places. I finished it with mixed feelings.

Think of a mash-up of The Time Traveller’s Wife and David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks and you’ll have some idea of what Pulley is aiming for in this highly ambitious novel that dances around different strands within two main times – 1805 and 1898/99. And as the blurb doesn’t give away any spoilers as to why one of those dates, in particular, is significant, then I shan’t do so here.

Both times are very well evoked, particularly just how hard life is – and how cheaply it is held. Particularly the lives of sailors, slaves and soldiers. There are some quite shocking scenes in the book of murder and violence – and as we also have a naval battle portrayed and a ringside scene of the injuries inflicted, this one isn’t for the squeamish. We also see what this does to the main characters in the story, especially Missouri Kite who is scarred both physically and emotionally. He is capable of wonderful leadership that undeniably saves the lives of those in his charge; real tenderness in an age that doesn’t value or regard such an emotion. And absolute, lethal savagery.

I’ve been quite conflicted by this one. Terrible things happen and we are encouraged to feel it’s okay, because at the heart of it all is a love story. And while there is an upbeat ending, I wasn’t convinced that Joe wouldn’t wake up one morning full of longing for someone in a lost time and simply walk away, again, driven to desperately seek her out… But that kernel of uncertainty demonstrates the power of Pulley’s writing, which packs a strong emotional punch, throughout. She portrays Joe’s constant, terrible yearning for someone he can’t quite recall with a visceral vividness that had me wanting to weep at times.

What is undeniable is the technical skill Pulley displays in dealing with the scrambled timelines, the depiction of the historical times and the changes brought about by alternate circumstances. Her handling of those elements is masterful, as is her pacing and the management of a complex plot, complete with a number of twists that kept me paying attention. I saw a couple of them coming – but not the full picture. And that bittersweet ending adds up to a challenging book that has raised some awkward questions it leaves to the reader to figure out. I’m not sure if this is a story demonstrating just what a destructive force love is, for instance. Very highly recommended for fans of alternate historical tales. While I obtained an arc of The Kingdoms from Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

I have very mixed feelings about this novel. There were times when I felt like I didn’t want to go on reading it because I was finding it confusing and long-winded, but the pay-off was good enough that I didn’t regret carrying on. It begins by throwing the reader right in amongst things, with a protagonist who can’t remember who he is or how he got to a London train station in the early 20th century. This was intriguing of course, but it was perhaps just too many speculative elements (slaves, England as a French colony, multiple cases of amnesia, etc.) all at once, making it hard to get to grips with. And that was how The Kingdoms continued; peeling back the layers of a story set across multiple timelines and altered realities, crafting a story elegantly but, yep, confusingly. By the end, I had had some of my suspicions about who Joe, the amnesiac protagonist, was in his other timelines, which was pleasing, but there are definitely bits of it that I just still don’t get.

An imaginative time slip novel with the interesting idea of Victorian England being ruled by France after the French overcome the English at the Battle of Trafalgar and Londres becomes an outpost of the French empire. The novel begins in 1898 with Joe Tournier, suffering from amnesia, stepping off a train at Gare du Rio with no idea where he is or why the station has a French name. Joe returns to his family and has a new baby daughter but never regains his memory and remains confused about his past.When he offers to repair a lighthouse he is transported through a “gateway” to 1807 where the remnants of the British Navy hope that he will be able to help them defeat the French by using his knowledge of future technology. Meanwhile, Joe finds he is attracted to his captor Missouri Kite, a confusing mix of brutality and sensitivity. An inventive time travel novel with romance and mystery.
I found the multiple flashbacks and complicated story made it hard to follow and prevented me from becoming engaged with the characters. However, this may be down to my lack of concentration!

The synopsis of this novel instantly grabbed my attention: a postcard from the past and a lighthouse in the Hebridean islands. In ‘The Kindoms’, Natasha Pulley spins a tale of love, sacrifice and identity across centuries and two different versions of Britain around the end of the 19th century.
Joe Tournier arrives in London on a train from Glasgow, with no recollection of how he got there and is diagnosed with amnesia caused by silent epilepsy. Joe learns that he is an English slave in an alternate London, which is part of a French empire. He experiences flashes of memories of a different life, and when he receives a postcard from the past, he travels to the Outer Hebrides in search of answers.
I really liked the concept of a butterfly effect from the past, with alternative futures. The frequent jumps in the timeline meant I had to pay close attention to when in the narrative I was at any point in the book. It took me a while to get fully pulled into the narrative, but by the end I was deeply invested in and moved by the conclusion of the story.

A fantastic read by a new author for me. I am converted as a fan and absolutely cannot wait to read more. This is unique and original. I have been pulled in and unable to put this one down.
I cannot say anything negative about this gorgeous book. it has been a fantastic read.

This review will go live at the link below on 7 June:

Hi and welcome to my review of The Kingdoms!

Genre bending and time twisting, you say? Sign me up, I say! Such enthusiasm can backfire, I’ve been there, you’ve probably been there too, so I’m sure you’ll want to know: did I actually get what it said on the box? I am happy to say that I did! To me The Kingdoms felt like Outlander meets Dark Matter in a mind-boggling speculative historical fiction novel.

When we first meet Joe, he’s in his early forties and stepping off a train in London, or more accurately: Londres, as The Kingdoms offers an alternative history in which England is a colony of France. The Thames is the Tamise, people read Le Monde, and French is the official language. Weirded out yet? I certainly was! But also very intrigued! Not only by the setting, but also by this protagonist who suffers from amnesia and feels as alien in this Londres as I did.

A few months later and still not remembering anything from before he stepped off that train, Joe receives an envelope addressed to him and held at the sorting office since 1805, for 93 years that is. Inside there’s a postcard with a photo of a lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides and a note: Come home, if you remember. M. Is this M the Madeline Joe vaguely remembers? But how can she be when the letter was sent 93 years ago? And why does he feel like he knows that lighthouse? Curiouser and curiouser.

We stay with Joe as he follows the clues that lead him to the Outer Hebrides and the lighthouse that’s been haunting him. I loved that some of the mystery is cleared up right there and then, but I still had lots of questions that remained unanswered for quite some time while The Kingdoms tapered off into various timelines to explore some of the other characters’ history, as well as Joe’s present. I do love historical fiction, against all odds and all my expectations it’s become a favourite genre, but I have to admit I grew a tad impatient because I wanted Joe to find out more about the things he couldn’t remember, and I wanted to know about M. Although there’s plenty of action, I felt that all of that could perhaps have been a bit more concise, as I felt my attention waver from time to time. (I’m sure that’s all me, though, if there’s such a thing as a patience gene, they must have forgotten to put that in.)

However, when I reached the end and the story came together, I fully grasped why the author did what she did and I had to admit she’d made all the right choices, as the finale wouldn’t have had such an impact on me if it hadn’t been for all that came before. (Sorry not sorry, I’d rather be vague than spoil things for you.)

The Kingdoms definitely needs your full attention. It’s been compared to Evelyn Hardcastle and I feel that’s the most important trait these two books have in common: they are so intricate that they are quite mind-boggling and you need to read them attentively cos once you lose your way, I don’t think you can ever find it again.

The Kingdoms takes a bit of effort and concentration but it’s well worth it. If you enjoy historical fiction laced with fantasy and you like putting those little grey cells to work, then The Kingdoms is one you need to check out. And remember: there’s no place like home, but home isn’t always where, when and with whom you might think it is.

The Kingdoms is out now in all digitals formats, hardback and audio.

Huge thanks to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for a review.

This book was absolutely phenomenal. The world building, the characters, the plot; all were so expertly done!

I loved this book and will be buying a copy immediately!