I didn't know what I was getting going into this book, but I really liked the writing and the way the author went back and forth between the time periods. I'm not normally a regular fiction person - I much prefer science fiction or fantasy - but this one was pretty good and written well. The descriptions the author gave were really good and I just enjoyed reading the words on the page, which isn't something I can say about all books, especially straight fiction books. A lot of the time I don't like the way the person describes things in their story, but I wasn't disappointed with this book. It would be one I'd be interested in actually reading, even though it was just a fiction book. Getting a first read of it was nice.