Rating: 
Summary: best book of its kind
Review: 20th century journalist Jo Clifford gradually becomes drawn back to the 12th century and a previous existence after being regressed as a student. Brilliant and quite scary. I tried the first Diana Gabaldon book after reading this and it was nothing like as good. It took an ice age to read and the characters were not as interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Ridiculous and Disappointing
Review: Coincidentally, I had just finished reading 'Here Be Dragons' by Sharon Kay Penman that covered a somewhat later period of Welsh history but featured many of the same historical figures as this book. 'Here Be Dragons' is ten times the book this is. If I have one pet peeve it would have to be authors who command their characters to do illogical things. Case in point: At the beginning of this novel, the title character Jo, has just broken off a relationship with the man in her life who has gone off to pursue another woman yet, there is no discussion of what preciptated the breakup and the heroine nonchalantly allows the 'rat' to waltz blithely in and out of her life and apartment without batting an eyelash. The 'rat' and his brother also have a relationship about as fraternal as Kane and Abel but there is no discussion whatsoever as to why. I also found it rather ridiculous that all the men in Jo's modern existence had ALL followed her from her previous incarnation 800 years ago! The heroine also runs around Wales falling spontaneously into regressive hypnotic trances at the drop of a 'Milady'. The author even had one of her 800 year old, medieval characters utter "Hey" like he was hailing a cab. C'mon! Maybe this book should be better classified as science fiction? I am as willing as the next person to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good yarn but because of the author's inablity to flesh out the details to make her protagonists credible I found the characters of this novel did not develop beyond cardboard cutouts. My advice: You money and your time would be better spent on 'Here Be Dragons' by Sharon Kay Penman. Go read the reviews on this site for THAT book.
Rating: 
Summary: Shame on Erskine!
Review: Disappointing. No thoughtful, self respecting woman would be attracted to this book or to this author after reading this book. This writer is acclaimed for her scholarliness so I was terribly disappointed. This book offends me. She sets feminism back by decades with her repeated and offensive rape fantasies. One scene was tolerable since it sends the idea that in those days women were mere chattel. But, please, I threw it out after the second one. I picked it back up to give the author another chance and finally just grew too disgusted by rape scene number 3 to continue. I would not want my daughter to read it - nor my son! The women characters (past & present) were disloyal, dishonest and manipulative. The men deceitful, weak or brutal. One may hope that Erskine does not depend as heavily on alcohol as her heroine does. About a third of the way through the book, it became laughable. If you seek a good reincarnation novel, try Amy Tan's superlative, wonderful Hundred Secret Senses, the more serious Search for the Girl With the Blue Eyes by Jess Sterne or even the romantic fiction Somewhere In Time. Anya Seton's Green Darkness is another and I do believe Erskine relied heavily upon its plot scheme and characters (if she did not simply plagiarize.....). My message to the readers - Don't bother! My message to Barbara Erskine: Get a therapist or switch to red-cover, "heaving bosom" press so that I won't be fooled again. You should find rape repulsive, not titilating or romantic. You should not use it to sell books at womankind's expense. For shame!
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book of all time
Review: Even with a 2-year-old and an infant at my breast i sacrificed sleep to follow Matilda to the past and through the glens and the men until I sadly reached the last page. I appreciated that the author doesn't force the idea of reincarnation on the reader; rather she includes alternative explanations and arguments against it. I enthusiastically recommend this jaunt through history, some of it historically accurate.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow but refreshing
Review: For me the book started off pretty slowly, I really didn't get into it till the 3th or 4th chapter. From then on though, I couldn't put it down, I liked the characters better in the past though. I was far more anxious to read about them then Jo and the rest from the 20th century. It was a refreshing read, I recommend this book 100% and also Kingdom of Shadows which I absolutely loved.
Rating:
Summary: Can This Woman Write a Bad Book?
Review: Great story..Suprise ending...exciting and fast paced! Everything Barbara Erskine writes is awesome!
Rating:
Summary: Timeslip Romance
Review: Hardened journalist, Jo Clifford is working on an investigative piece to debunk reincarnation and regression hypnosis.There's only one problem, the fact that once she agrees to be hypnotised in order to try and be fair, she has very realistic images of a woman from the Middle Ages, Matilda, Lady of Hay. Is Jo really the reincarnation of someone who lived hundreds of years ago? Or is she just remembering some facts that she had forgotten from long ago history lessons? Flitting between Jo's modern life and Matilda's past life, the book is a real page turner, keeping you guessing until the very end. The regression is handled quite well and as you finish the book, you do begin to wonder if reincarnation is such a far fetched idea after all. Barbara Erskine has the talent to weave a spell with words, you just have to finish the books once started. Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Silent Screams.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad for a Typical Romance
Review: I am currently on Chapter 26 of this book after having a friend of mine force me to begin reading it. I must admit, I normally hate having to read a book that I can't finish in one night, but this one is an exception. She leaves just enough room between extrordinarily intense scenes to shut the book and come back to it at another time. Although this can be viewed as positive, it's also negative considering that I've been reading this book for three weeks, and there are several times when I find myself bored with the plotline. She could've done better, but when you have nothing to do over a summer break, you take what you can get, and I'm glad this is what I've got.
Rating:
Summary: Lady of Hay
Review: I am not a reader of romance fiction. In fact, I was a bit embarrassed when carrying around my copy of this book because the cover was SO blatantly "romance." I quickly lost all apprehension, however, as I became utterly absorbed in this engrossing historical novel. I've never even enjoyed historical novels before, but Ms. Erskine weaves suspense, history, romance, and a bit of the supernatural together so flawlessly that "genre" doesn't even apply. Barbara Erskine knows how to entrance the reader, and she certainly entranced me! Bravo, Barbara! NEVER stop writing!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful history, it's the modern people I want gone...
Review: I bought and read this book when I was 13 and visited London. At 13 I adored it passionately. At much older than 13, I find it a bit laughable. First, I agree with several reviewers who object to the "strong, independent" heroine being raped and abused, and finding her "happily ever after" with one (!!!) of her rapists. His excuse was that he was hypnotically regressed to King John at the time. Oh, well, of course. The historical parts of the book are outstanding, detailed and well-researched, and they win 100% of the three stars that I give this book. Readers of Sharon Kay Penman's _Here Be Dragons_ will find this an excellent companion piece. In fact, if you love medieval Welsh history, I highly recommend getting this book and just flipping the pages whenever the modern characters appear. The original cover art I have from my British edition reads, "Fascinating, absorbing, and original." The first two are subjective, but as many reviewers have pointed out, it is hardly original; Anya Seton's _Green Darkness_ and Mary Luke's _Nonesuch Lure_ played the same themes at least 20 years before _Lady of Hay_ was published. But it became even less original when Barbara Erksine began searching out abused women in British history and did the same thing over and over again, injecting historically inaccurate feminism along the way. _Lady of Hay_ is definitely the best of her efforts in the past-life regression genre.
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