Indigo Bay

Barbara Baldwin offers a unique perspective on time traveling that will delight fans of the original Dark Shadows television program. Her method of time travel? A key to a room that does not exist!

Michaela Marie Chadwick, Mica to those who know her is a present day attorney in Charleston, South Carolina. She has recently completed divorce proceedings against her former husband, Richard, who is a ne’er do well who bankrupted himself and then began to go after Mica’s financial concerns. Her Aunt Theo is the only person Mica feels completely comfortable with in that her father has pushed her into being a member of his law practice and her mother wishes her to follow in her footsteps as a proper Southern lady. Shortly before her Aunt Theo dies she tells Mica a most confusing message: that she must go to Sea Crest and help Thomas. Mica has no idea who Thomas is.

Upon her aunt’s death Mica learns she has inherited Sea Crest and takes some time to go visit the quaint Bed and Breakfast inn on a small island off South Carolina. During her first night there she hears a horrific fight and follows the voices – only they end at a room that does not exist! Mica turns the key and finds herself in 1850 where she meets T. Logan Rutledge. Logan is everything her former husband, Richard, was not. He is honest, caring, compassionate and truly the man of her dreams. The only problem is he lives in 1850. It is not too long before Mica learns that Logan’s true name is Thomas.

Unique to this time travel romance is the use of a key to a room that no longer exists coupled certain “rules” Mica discovers during her sojourns back and forth across time. One novel concept is that objects that exist in 1850 can transition through time; however objects from the present that did not exist then cannot. While Mica can transverse the threshold to another time, Thomas cannot and when he is able to come to the present it is in the form of a ghostly presence.

Ms. Baldwin takes the indigo crop produced by Thomas as the name of the story and as the name of Thomas’s home. She educates the reader as to the indigo trade through Thomas’s informative explanation to Mica. The author offers a wonderful, often untold, piece of history to the reader.

Mica is inexplicably drawn to Thomas as he is to her, but the chemistry does not come through the story as strongly as it could have. That they “discover” they are in love at their third meeting is less than credible. On the other hand, Ms. Baldwin offers a good story of an independent modern woman and a very proper mid-1800’s man. She touches on some of the mores of the time concerning treatment of women through the story. A bit more tension or anticipation between the couple would not have been remiss.

There is a thread concerning men in white sheets that appear as ghosts, but never truly resolves if they were in fact the ultimate villain or just doing his bidding or just there. A bit more build up of the tension between Thomas and the villain would have held this reviewer’s interest a bit more strongly.

One VERY interesting aspect to this reviewer is that this story was written in 2001. There is mention of a Hurricane Charlie in the story, its devastation and that an attorney went missing when the storm ended. Much like the Hurricane Charlie wrecked tremendous destruction in August 2004, one can only wonder if an attorney disappeared during the storm and if perhaps she is now living in another time.

All in all Indigo Bay is a sweet and enjoyable love story and a unique time travel to read.

Reviewed by: Regan