Book Review The Rose and the Thistle by Laura Frantz
This book is a historical romance set in England, Scotland, and France in the year 1715. It centers around the lives of those experiencing the time of upheaval, and political unrest between the Jacobite’s and those loyal to King George of England.
The Jacobite’s are of the Catholic faith and those loyal to England are of the Protestant faith. It was a time of uncertainty, intrigue, rebellion and uprising.
Into this setting we find our two main characters, Lady Beth Hedley of Bellbroke Castle in Northumberland, England and Everard Hume, Lord Fast of Wedderburn Castle in Scotland, meeting in a most undesirable situation to both of them.
Lady Beth, a strict Catholic with Jacobite leanings and Lord Fast, a Protestant who had been a soldier in Queen Anne’s Army of England, clearly were not of the same faith, nor political beliefs, yet, because of circumstances, they are thrust together much to their mutual distain of the matter.
Though the book begins a bit slowly, it quickly picks up interest once the two main characters meet and then is very hard to put down because of the many building controversies and actions being introduced into the story.
It is clearly not a romance that is easy to pinpoint, the author leads the reader on many adventurous twists and turns that are sometimes exasperating, yet one is compelled to read on to the end.
Although, I am not a fan of politics, and do not enjoy all the talk of such, I did enjoy reading about the lives of those living during that time and the descriptions of the castles, royalty life and countries of Scotland and England during that period of time.
The author writes very descriptively, especially using the language of that time, enabling the reader to imagine just what it would have been like to live in those big castles and cities of that day. If you are a person who loves different languages, dialects and words, you will enjoy this book. There is a Glossary in the beginning of the book to help the reader better understand the words and phrases used throughout the book.
I received this book free from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and comments are my own.
Leona J. Atkinson