THE FIREBIRD is a compelling and beautifully-written page-turner. Susanna Kearsley introduces us to Nicola Marter, an antiques dealer with a secret gift -- she can learn an object's past just by touching it. When she holds a wooden bird, said to be a gift from Russia's Queen Catherine, she is driven to find the evidence to prove its provenance. But she can't do it alone. She enlists a gifted friend to help. They travel from Scotland to Russia to follow the story of THE FIREBIRD, and on the way, they find something even more precious.

I loved this book. Kearsley takes us back and forth from the present to the time of Peter the Great. She describes the scenes in great detail without being distracting. Her visions of the past are so vivid, I began to wonder if she has the same power Nicola and Rob have to see the way things were with just a brush of the hand. Her characters are very believable, and Kearsley also has a real knack with dialogue and dialects. I could easily hear Nicola's English accent and Rob's Scottish burr in every scene they share.

THE FIREBIRD is a brilliant novel that I highly recommend for readers who love historical and contemporary romances, and for those interested in the time of Czar Peter.