Fifteen Postcards (The Old Curiosity Shop) Paperback – September 13, 2019

The book draws you in and keeps you in the story. I am absolutely in love with this series! She develops each character and you want to know more about them. Would definitely recommend this series to anyone interested in the Victorian era, time travel and antiques!

Kirsten McKenzie’s Fifteen Postcards.Ever wonder what happens to people who just disappear, leaving no trace, never to be heard from again? Or do you ever stand outside your door on a town side-street and wonder, what was it like here, in this exact spot, one hundred years ago? Are you fascinated by the way family intertwines through time, with questions like Who’s child is that? and did you know such-and-such was that persons great-great grandfather? If you are intrigued by those issues, you should read Kirsten McKenzie’s novel, Fifteen Postcards, for one possible, incredible, intriguing explanation.Present day London-based Sarah Lester, a ‘gifted procrastinator, who cries in movies and even emotionally poignant commercials’ but is ‘unafraid of spiders or tigers, or madmen and monsters’, has prematurely inherited her parent's antique shop, the Old Curiosity Shop, for a very particular reason. They have both disappeared, her mother first, then her father, without a trace.Sarah is determined to keep the shop going. From having run a stationary shop, this reviewer can vouch for the fact that the author knows small off beat shops and the people who frequent them. Those who want to purchase, but don’t have the money; those who want to chat. All sorts come into stationary shops and, it seems, antique shops.One day she receives a call to clear out an old estate, and Sarah’s whole life changes. She is one step closer to understanding what happened to her parents. The book is structured on fifteen pillars, the fifteen postcards that are part of the goods Sarah purchases from the old Williams estate, fifteen postcards ‘in an old biscuit tin from an old estate’.Each chapter is headed with a name such as ‘The Riot’, ‘The Basement’, and so on. This is an excellent idea which is not so popular now as it was. However, what would be a great help, especially for Kindle readers, would be if they were incorporated into a Table of Contents (toc).From that point on, on touching certain objects in the shop, Sarah begins a journey backward through time and then forward again, returning to her shop in present day London. While the book starts with a cosy-read feel, this escalates during the course of the novel. Some of the places she finds herself are extremely dangerous, but also very romantic, leading in one specific case to a very amorous encounter between Sarah and that of a man whose life she saves. The historical background details are very well researchedTo add to the danger, she is no longer safe either in present day London, because a descendant of the deceased estate, one horrible individual called Benjamin Grey, is stalking Sarah. He has discovered that she has come into possession of valuable family heirlooms, which he claims were stolen from him.At one point, when she is transported back to present day London from Nineteenth-century New Zealand, she is followed through time by an unwitting but dangerous stalker.The author skilfully and I believe, poignantly, weaves a connection between all the people, places and objects Sarah stumbles across. The end is poignant and left this reviewer thinking ‘Wow! That is so sad and incredible’. But it couldn’t happen—or could it?

This story is a mystery and a historical race through different countries, all linked to 15 postcards.The main character, Sarah, has taken over her parents antique shop after they have disappeared, and she buys a deceased estate. As well as the postcards there are all sorts of objects, some of which have the power to transport her through time and place, and they are linked to the former owner and her history.The story is vividly written, both the present day and the places Sarah find herself in. I particularly enjoyed the Indian setting, but I love stories set in India. I live in New Zealand so really enjoyed the story there too.The story and characters are skillfully joined together, and I found I was racing ahead to see what happened. It operates on several levels. There's the mystery of her parents disappearance, but also the story of the deceased estate, and the history of the descendants. And of course the mystery why she can time travel at all.I was a little frustrated with the end, as things seemed unresolved, and then I realised there's a sequel! I'm looking forward to reading it. Highly recommended!

If you love antiques, history and a bit of mystery then I would recommend this series! I just finished the Last Letter and can’t wait to start the next book!

First, a warning: This is not sci-fi. The time travel is a device to tell a historical mystery story, not unlike Octavia Butler's *Kinship*. No clear mechanism, no TARDIS, no flights around the sun. So if you expect that from a time-travel story, this is not the novel for you.That out of the way, I found the story to be charming and the mystery clever with some interesting twists. The characters are also relatively well-drawn. I did find the main character is a bit too mercenary. Her initial displacement in time can excuse her bumbling in early going, but one would assume the would get the gist as the story goes on. As such, her preoccupation with *things* rather than the *people* she encounters can be offputting. Additionally, the overuse of sentence fragments and the occasional misuse of syntax is disconcerting. The potential for bootstrap paradox is problematic. Character perspective jumps suddenly and too frequently from the protagonist to others around her. There were also a couple of glaring historical errors, which were especially egregious in a story about time travel to the historical era in question. If you are prepared to overlook or accept the errors, and you don't mind the emphasis on the value of the antique items (or, rather, *future* antique items) the protagonist observes (and sometimes obsesses over), you will probably enjoy the story. This book will make English language and history purists shudder, however. Which is a shame, because a solid editor would have cleaned the errors up easily and made the book a five-star delight.

The story starts slowly and picks up steam. It was kinda fun hopping from one country and time to the next but for me, also terribly confusing trying to keep the myriad characters straight. I was thinking I’d need a notebook to jot down the various names of the descendants of who was who. I gave up trying to keep them straight although it would have added to the story if I could have remembered! However that is not the authors fault.Still, despite all of the local color, something was missing that would have lifted this story to a higher level, that I can’t put my finger on. But that missing element left the story flat and easily forgettable, a shame given the amount of imagination that went into telling this tale.

I was intrigued by the idea of this book. Sarah Lester's parents mysteriously go missing, first her mother and then her father some years later, and Sarah takes over the running of their antiques shop. After buying some antiques from an estate, she starts to look through them and is suddenly transported back in time after touching an object.I really liked the author's style of writing and the research that went into every time period Sarah visits. Sarah herself is pretty level-headed, considering she is constantly thrown backwards and forwards in time, and I like her feisty moments when she stands up for women's rights! The author is very good at creating different characters that you can relate to, both good or bad, and that help make each setting more believable.I started panicking as I neared the end of the book and there were still a lot of loose ends to tie up, in particular the reason as to why this was happening to Sarah and her parents. In fact, it ends on a cliffhanger, and I hope there will be a book 2 to answer all the questions! A good debut novel that I would recommend.

Fifteen Postcards follows the adventures of Sarah, an antiques dealer based in London, as she slips back and forth across time, searching for her family, doing a bit of hustling with some historical goodies (can't blame her, I'd do the same!), and visiting a variety of exotic locations including New Zealand and India.It's an intriguing premise that reeled me in immediately with its diverse mix of ingredients - time travel, historical fiction, action, adventure, and romance.The story itself is brilliant and well presented, but another thing I loved about this book is that the author's enthusiasm for history and antiques shines through in the prose. As a result, the descriptions are painted so vividly that I could effortlessly picture the historical artefacts with ease and that brought the story even further to life for me.I could picture this as a TV series easily - each time Sarah slips back and forth, there's an episodic feel that would translate beautifully to television.All in all, a most enjoyable read. I also understand the author is about to release a horror novel soon and as a big horror fan, this is something I'm looking forward to and given what I've read here, I'm sure the genre is in safe hands.Highly recommended.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s one of the best time traveler stories I’ve read. The historical background is spot on accurate, the characters are fascinating and the book is full of a sense of mystery, there is more going on than we know. I love Sarah and can’t wait to get to book 2 to see what happens next.

'Fifteen Postcards' features the main character, Sarah, who runs an antique store called The Old Curiosity Shop which she is responsible for after the inexplicable disappearance of her parents several years prior. Soon after Sarah takes on an abandoned estate she becomes transplanted in different countries and time periods after touching various antiques. Essentially, between the covers of 'Fifteen Postcards' readers are treated to a magically unique journey that spans three countries and several time periods.To put it simply, I devoured this book; I believe the fact that I stayed up until an ungodly hour to finish this book should speak to the fact that this was a great book. McKenzie has done a spectacular job of combining well-researched history with a hint of mysterious intrigue. It quickly became quite obvious that extensive research was done during the writing process yet, it is presented in a way that isn't tedious or boring for the reader. My one tiny nitpick is that I found the India segment ran a little long and dry, that being said, this did not ruin my overall enjoyment of the book.In terms of the setting, the description was beautifully rich; I felt that the reader becomes drawn into England, New Zealand, and India along with Sarah.Overall, this was a fantastic book; I have a hard time believing that it was a debut novel. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to fellow readers particularly if one likes history and/or antiques. I believe that this novel appeals to our innate nature to be curious about the stories of our heirlooms.

Well written and interesting. Whilst the main character could show a little more sense (she’s supposed to be intelligent yet sends off email without basic research etc!), the book contained interesting locations and moved along at a good pace. Hoping the next in the series retains the standard.