DEVIL'S HIGHLANDER

Author: Veronica Wolff ISBN: 9780425236277 8/2010 HISTORICAL Publisher: BERKLEY SENSATION
Time Period: 1660

Before she can give herself to him, he must forgive himself. Cormac MacAlpin lost his innocence too young—he’s always blamed himself for the kidnapping of his twin brother, Aidan. He turned away from his childhood friend, Marjorie Keith, denying the prospect of happiness with the young woman who loved him. Now a tormented war hero working as a fisherman, Cormac is speechless when Marjorie comes to him with an appeal for help...a poor city boy she’s been caring for has disappeared, reminding her of long-lost Aidan. Their bond of shame once thwarted a budding romance, and threatens to again—but Cormac and Marjorie are adults now, with needs too powerful to keep locked away...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Veronica Wolff sets her historical romance DEVIL'S HIGHLANDER in 1660 Aberdeen, Scotland, where Marjorie Keith has just suffered a horrible loss—one of the poor orphan boys she helps has been kidnapped. The reason she helps is to honor one of her childhood friends who was also kidnapped at a young age and presumably sold into slavery. Marjorie is grief stricken, and she feels the same guilt as when Aiden was taken. The only person she feels she can ask for help is Aiden's twin Cormac, who is suffering in his own world of guilt from the kidnapping, as well as from the traumas he suffered during Scotland's civil war. His family finally convinces him to go help Marjorie find little Davie, despite his misgivings. Will this endeavor only lead to more guilt and frustration, or will Cormac and Marjorie be able to reclaim their love for each other?

Wolff takes her readers to a dreadful time in history when it was not only legal to grab up street children and ship them off to the West Indies as plantation slaves, but actually encouraged in order to clean up the riffraff from the streets. Marjorie learns, to her horror and ours, that the law is not on her side. Those who should be working to protect the citizens are not always the good guys, and she is let down by many who should support her. She and Cormac bravely go forth, only to get caught up in a web of deceit that they truly didn't expect. It seems that everywhere they turn is hopeless, and they even begin to doubt each other and themselves. Thankfully, they stand firm to their convictions.

DEVIL'S HIGHLANDER is not only a lovely romance filled with self-discovery and rediscovery of love that can heal, but also an eye-opening view of a part of history that was very ugly indeed. I was kept hoping through to the end, and was rewarded with a beautiful story.

Susan Barton