The Jacobite Lass

By: Janet MacLeod Trotter

Narrated by: Lesley Mackie

Scotland, 1722: on a windswept island, an enigmatic poetess foretells tragedy and the birth of an extraordinary child.

That child is the free-spirited Flora, daughter of Marion. When her father dies, Flora and her mother are plunged into poverty. Until her mother's former lover takes them to Skye, where he swiftly marries Marion. When the Clanranalds are invited to a grand wedding in Skye, Flora finds herself irresistibly drawn to Allan of Kingsburgh, one of the mighty Skye MacDonalds.

Before affairs of the heart can be resolved, the exiled Prince Charles Stuart lands on the Outer Isles, and his arrival ignites the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Scotland is plunged into bloody civil war, and Flora's fate is changed forever.

©2014 Janet Macleod Trotter (P)2016 Soundings

Excellent

Great story, well written, evenly flows, performed masterfully. Would recommend, Jacobite or no! Dramatic tension was very well done

Loved it!!

Compeling story, great reading, most likely I will listen to again in the future! Thank you!

not bad

this book held my attention but the characters are too many it's confusing at times a little wordy with no really excitement the romance is few and far between the only reason I finish this book is because I wanted to know what's up with Neil but the writer finish the story with some hurry up love scene and nothing about the other characters

Absolutely Excellent!!…..almost

This book in so many ways is a 5 star book. The characters are incredibly engaging. The writing is superb. The pacing is spot on and the historical detail is excellent. I should’ve easily been able to write that this book was excellent, 5 stars—especially since I adored the characters. The problem is that the author took what was gearing up to be a beautiful love story of star crossed lovers and a well conceived love triangle, and turned it into that age old formulaic claptrap of misperceptions, mixed signals, and just plain old stupidity. The main character Flora is strongly characterized throughout the book as intelligent, independent, and strong. She’s not a wilting lily or someone who can be led around by the nose. Even when she’s caught out as a collaborator with Bonny Prince Charlie and knows she’s going to the Tower of London and likely her death she doesn’t accept the Commanders gift of saying she was fooled or led into the ‘treason’ by others, which would have led to her release. Instead she tells him that she knew what she was doing and would do it again. Yet when it comes to the man the reader knows she’s in love with within the first 100 pages, she spends the entire book (from age 17 to approx 29) misconstruing everything he says and does, deciding every time he says he loves her and wants to marry her (which is a lot) that he’s mocking her or lying or a player (he is none of the above). Everything that happens with people around him that lends itself to explain his love for her she also assumes must be wrong or lies. YET when it comes to the man that she promises herself to who clearly doesn’t care about her, she decides every time he puts her in danger, disappears for years, tells her he can’t be with her that he loves her dearly and there’s a future for them….even though unlike the former suitor he never says he loves her, never tells her he desires her, never kisses her or protects her asks her to marry him. It’s all ABSURD! I get it, a lot of writers I’d love stories these days use this tactic of coincidence or misconceptions that keep lovers apart until the end. I can’t imagine readers fall for the inanity of it. I understand that star crossed lovers stories needs a dose of the aforementioned obstacles. That’s fine. Some of it is realistic even. But NOT 12 years of them! Not an entire book of a woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind or ask questions never once asking him ‘are you mocking me’ ‘ did you mean this or that?’ Etc. I mean she had 12 years to clear it up! Not to mention this smart independent woman falling for the flashing neon sign obviousness that the other man in the picture is using her. It’s like he’s hitting her on the head with a club saying I don’t love you, I’ll never marry you, and she’s looking back at him saying I love you too. It’s absurd. He openly and with obvious calculation uses the fact that she loves him to get her to risk her and her families life. Risk being broken on the wheel! And he does this more than once. Then after over a decade of being in another country and refusing to marry her he asks for money and she still thinks he’s a gem of a guy with earnest feelings for her. The whole thing was maddening! Regretfully this could have been AMAZING, a 5 star book, if only the author wouldn’t have used that claptrap. If only she would have thought her readers intelligent rather than stupid airheads who will buy into the nonsense. She’s a better writer than that. A terrific writer. If she can continue to write terrific characters and stories and do so without relying on hack tools like ‘coincidence syndrome’ she could really do something BIG. I still give this book 4 stars because it was so good I couldn’t give it less but I’m sorely disappointed it wasn’t what it should’ve been.