Where Love Dwells won the RITA Award for Best Historical in 1991 and is among several wonderful
romances by this talented author. (Her Scottish historicals are my favorites.) Alas,
her books are not on Kindle but they are available on Amazon in paper and I do
recommend you snatch them up before they disappear.
This story is one of those
sweeping sagas that draw you in and hold you captive. Stuart is superb at
integrating historical details and building characters with believable lives.
Since she is Welsh—and this tale is set in Wales in the late 13th
century—it was a labor of love for her.
There were many battles
between England and Wales as the Welsh fought to hold onto their independence
and their lands. Of course, it was a losing battle. The story opens as Lady
Elen of Teifi loses her family (and her betrothed) in a battle that leaves her,
a Welsh princess, the last of her ruling family. Escaping into the north woods,
she helps her remaining people lead raids on the English knights. The man who
has protected her all her life becomes the Welsh Fox the English dread. In a
raid on her rebel camp, Elen is taken prisoner by Sir Richard of Kent, King
Edward’s liege knight who has been given the assignment to rid Wales of the
rebels. He doesn’t know the young woman he has captured is the last of the
royal Welsh family. Instead, he thinks she is the mistress of the rebel known
as the Welsh Fox.
The story of how Elen and
Richard discover their love for each other, notwithstanding they are enemies,
is a wonderful tale, and well told. Despite some improbable element early in
the story the book is amazingly good, a keeper.
Buy on Amazon.
If you are interested in
reading about the improbable elements in Where Love Dwells, read on, but know that they did not keep me from giving the book 5 stars.:
--Richard assumes from her
appearance that Elen is a “mere girl”--13 or 14 (she is 16) -- yet he instantly
concludes she must be the mistress of the Red Fox who he believes to be well
over 30, and therefore he also concludes she is not a virgin. He doesn’t even
ask.
--Elen speaks beautiful
French and Welsh, but Richard assumes she cannot speak English, too. He doesn’t
even test his theory and speaks freely of his plans to capture the Fox in front
of her. It seemed unlikely for an experienced warrior.
--Knowing she is the only
hope of her people to birth the next generation of Welsh rulers, she plots to
kill Richard by using seduction to gain his weapon, never thinking that if she
slept with him, she would give birth to the child of her enemy. I had trouble
seeing a patriot engaging in that behavior.
--Richard continues to
believe Elen is the mistress of the Red Fox even after she told him her
betrothed was slain in an earlier battle. If she was 16 and betrothed, she’d be
no man’s mistress. Yet, Richard never thinks about that inconsistency.
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