By Darci Hannah, Ballantine Books, $15.00, 400 pages

The Exile of Sara Stevenson is remarkable for a first novel. It contains all the elements of historical novels popular with readers right now; rich with historical detail, a complex story line with even a bit of the supernatural thrown in, and everything concluded satisfactorily at the end. Our irrepressible heroine, Sara Stevenson, is a young woman in the early 1800s who is banished to a remote lighthouse of her father’s design in Northern Scotland because she fell in love with and became pregnant by a young man considered unsuitable by her family. Through the resulting challenges, adventures, and hardships, she grows to a truly impressive maturity.

This is both a beautiful love story and an interesting and exciting adventure story. This page-turner is one of the best this reviewer (who especially relishes this genre) has ever read. To author Darci Hannah, all I can say is “What were you waiting for” and “please give us more!”

Reviewed by Rosalie West