I love French’s stories and
was pleased to find this one set in America at the beginning of the French and
Indian War. It was a time when many Irish left Ireland fleeing the English for
a better life. Such was Rory Desmond, who in 1743,
helped by a young girl, fled to the Maryland Colony to become a tobacco
planter.
Ten years later, in 1753, the wife he
loved is dead and with his debts piling up around him and a young baby, he decides
to take a rich Irish wife who comes with a dowry. He returns to Connemara to
wed Mary Aislinn, the daughter of a wealthy man. But Mary Aislinn wants to be a
nun, so her illegitimate half sister, Linna O’Neill, who has the same name “Mary
Aislinn,” devises a plan whereby she will take her sister’s place. Unbeknownst
to Rory, she is the same young girl who helped him escape ten years earlier.
When Rory learns the truth, he spurns Linna as breaking his trust. He sends back the dowry and, hoping to make enough money to save his plantation, takes off to be a scout for the colonial soldiers in their battle against the French and their allied Indians. When Rory's troops are massacred and word reaches Linna that he is likely dead, she refuses to believe it and sets out into the wilderness to find him. And an exciting adventure begins…
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| Original cover |
French was inspired to write this adventure
story from her own family roots that began in Connemara, Ireland and led to
the New World and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She has done much research into the history of Maryland
and the Indian tribes like the Shawnee, and it all comes together here. If you enjoy early American history and marriage of
convenience stories that come right in the end, you’ll love this one. Linna is brave and courageous, though
sometimes impetuous, and Rory is a man whose strength is only tempered by his
love for a certain red-haired lass.
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