Ana has been condemned as a witch and thrown in a dungeon to die. Her herbal remedies were only ever used for good, but it doesn't take much for superstitious villagers to blame their misfortune on others, and somebody has poisoned the earl. Aberdeenshire in 1285 is unforgiving. When a fellow prisoner is rescued Ana pleads and is helped out by his rescuers, who leave her to her own trail.
TAMING A WILD SCOT then finds Ana at a Highland market the following year. Her fellow inmate has spotted her and still considers her a murderess. He too was wrongly blamed; a theft of a necklace and murders were laid at his door, and Aiden with his brother and rescuer Niall McCurran are still trying to expunge the stain on their family's honour. Niall thinks of a way to speak with Ana - he marches up, kisses her and announces that he is her husband Robbie returned from the docks and not dead after all. Ana is the village midwife, and takes him to her bothy to speak privately. Niall needs a ruse to get inside the local manor house to search for evidence and accompanying the midwife seems ideal. This will require them to live at closer quarters than Ana is comfortable with, but she owes Niall her life... can she trust him with her heart?
Ana is shown preferring water from the laird's well to that of the village pond, which would have been fouled by wastes. She has to take care not to naysay the local priest, who declares that severe morning sickness is a penalty for the sins of women; her sixteen-year-old married patient is a regular churchgoer. The villagers eat mainly vegetables and oat pottage, sometimes with cheese, but the barons eat meats. Trained Norman soldiers are hired as guards, so they have no reason to help local rebels.
Care has been taken to use terms appropriate for the period, such as bothy, socage, brat and bannock. So I was disappointed by an early line - the girl feels her heart beating like a hummingbird's wings. In Aberdeenshire in 1285 nobody would have known of a hummingbird as these birds are restricted to the Americas. The grouse and capercaillie shown later are correct in the Highland habitat. This is Rowan Keats's first novel and TAMING A WILD SCOT is a good involved read, so I look forward to seeing more.
In the Highlands of Scotland, plays for power are fought
without rules, treachery and intrigue hold court, and, in
one woman's heart, danger stirs as relentlessly as
passion...
Wrongfully accused of murder and left to die in a
hellish Highland dungeon, Ana Bisset has lost all hope of
freedom. But the beautiful healer's luck takes an unexpected
turn when a hooded stranger appears as her rescuer. After a
harrowing escape, Ana settles alone in a quiet village where
no one knows her past or her reputation. The last thing she
ever expects is to meet her mysterious savior again...
Niall MacCurran is no hero, but a warrior on a dangerous
mission to expose a threat to the realm. After his decision
to free Ana, he now realizes that it is he who needs her
help—willing or no—to advance his quest. But his
growing feelings for the delicate yet resilient beauty soon
jeopardize their safety—and not even Ana's healing
gifts may be enough to protect their love, or their lives.
No excerpt available.
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