A mother who cannot face her future.
A daughter who cannot escape her past.
Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she honors the auld ways, even as doubts and fears stir deep within her.
Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips.
His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjory’s many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her.
One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown.
A timeless story of love and betrayal, loss and redemption, flickering against the vivid backdrop of eighteenth-century Scotland, Here Burns My Candle illumines the dark side of human nature, even as hope, the brightest of tapers, lights the way home.
Author Bio:
LIZ CURTIS HIGGS is the author of twenty-seven books with three million copies in print, including: her best-selling historical novels, Thorn in My Heart, Fair Is the Rose, Christy Award-winner Whence Came a Prince, and Grace in Thine Eyes, a Christy Award finalist; My Heart’s in the Lowlands: Ten Days in Bonny Scotland, an armchair travel guide to Galloway; and her contemporary novels, Mixed Signals, a Rita Award finalist, and Bookends, a Christy Award finalist.
My thoughts:
I love to read historical fiction, but somehow I had not heard of Liz Curtis Higgs until I received Here Burns My Candle to review. She really knows how to tell a story. While reading this book, I was totally enthralled. The characters are very real and the description of the setting makes you see it. I could hear the Scottish accents too, as much of the dialogue was written in the native dialect. (There is a glossary in the back to help with unfamiliar words.) I am now interested in learning more about Bonny Prince Charles and his quest to regain the throne of England for the Stuarts and that is a good test for historical fiction. A good work of historical fiction grabs my interest in the time period and leaves me wanting to research it on my own.
Here Burns My Candle was based very loosely on the book of Ruth. (Actually, just the first 18 verses. The rest of the story will be told in the sequel.) I must give a word of warning about the content. Adultery is very prevalent, though in no is it glorified. In general some of the “romantic” portions of the book were a little more descriptive than I would expect from a Christian book. (It would not be anything I would think twice about in a secular book though.) And the depiction of the depth of the sin did strengthen the bond I felt with Lady Elisabeth.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and am looking forward to reading the sequel. I also will be looking for Liz Curtis Higgs previous works. To purchase Here Burns My Candle visit the WaterBrook Multnomah website. I received this book from WaterBrook Multnomah for free to review. Here is the official site for Blogging for Books if you’re interested in joining the program.
This book is the 13th book of the year. Visit 52 Books in 52 Weeks to see what others are reading this week.
By Kristen H.