Sarah's Destiny
(The Ancestors)
By Vicky Adin
Publication Date: April 9th, 2025
Publisher: AM Publishing New Zealand
Pages: 354
Genre: Historical Fiction / Women's Historical Fiction
Young Sarah Daniels is the heart, soul and future of The White Hart Inn on the Welsh Back. Alongside the quay and wharves on Bristol’s floating harbour, she dreams of finding love, and a destiny where she can escape the drudgery and tragedy that life usually delivers Victorian women. But dreams are free, and few share her ideals. When reality strikes, and Sarah learns the hard way that life is unkind, one man offers her hope.
Through many decades of heart-aching loss, false promises and broken dreams, the young widow clings to that one hope. With six children to care for, she takes risks few others would consider. She breaks conventions and makes sacrifices to keep that hope alive.
Will her wishes come true, or is she destined to be another unfortunate in the sea of many?
✧ Review ✧
Sarah never really expects her life to be anything other than what it already is. She just assumes things will carry on the same way. Her days revolve around the inn, looking after other people, and a sense of duty that feels like it was handed down to her rather than something she chose. It should feel comforting, but there’s this quiet sense that something’s missing.
You get that feeling from the start, and it slowly builds as things begin to shift. Nothing big or dramatic happens all at once—it’s more a series of small changes. New people enter her life, expectations shift, and she begins to realise her future might not be as fixed as she thought. On their own, these moments are quite subtle, but together they really add up.
When John arrives, things start to feel different. Sarah is steady and careful, while he’s harder to pin down. He brings the possibility of a different kind of life, but it’s not simple. There’s a clear pull between them, but it never feels completely secure, and that uncertainty runs through their relationship.
It’s not really a typical romance. It feels more like watching someone’s life unfold over time. Marriage, loss, and responsibility all change how Sarah sees things. The story doesn’t rush any of it, which works—it lets everything grow naturally and shows how those experiences shape her.
Family matters a lot here, too. Her relationship with her father, and then coping with his absence, sits right at the centre of it all. Watching her go from being looked after to becoming the one others rely on is one of the most affecting parts of the story.
The setting stands out as well. The inn feels real, like it’s been lived in for years. It’s comforting, but also a bit confining. You’re always aware of a bigger world just out of reach, which adds to that tension between staying where she is and wanting something more.
As the story progresses, Sarah becomes more confident in herself, but in a quiet, believable way. There’s no big turning point—just a gradual shift in how she sees her life and what she wants from it. By the time she makes her later choices, they feel earned.
By the end, things aren’t neatly tied up, but they do feel settled in a way that makes sense. There’s space to think about what she’s lost as well as what she’s gained, which makes it feel more real.
It’s the kind of historical story that really sticks with you, even after you have turned the last page.
✧ Buy Link ✧
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Vicky Adin
Like the characters in her books, Vicky has a passion for family history and a love of old photos, antiques, and treasures from the past. After researching the history of the time and place, and realising the hardships many people suffered, Vicky knew she wanted to write their stories. Tales of love and loss, and triumph over adversity. Her latest release, Sarah’s Destiny, Book 1 of The Ancestors series, is inspired by a true love story set in Bristol.
Vicky particularly enjoys writing inter-generational sagas, inspired by true stories of early immigrants to New Zealand, linked by journals, letters, photographs, and heirlooms.
She’s an avid reader of historical novels, family sagas and women’s stories and loves to travel when she can. She has a MA (Hons) in English and Education. Her story of Gwenna won gold in The Coffee Pot Book Club Women’s Historical Fiction Book of Year in 2022 and several of her books carry the gold B.R.A.G medallion.
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