The Rose and the Thistle

November 18, 2022

Lady Blythe Hedley is an elegant, educated Catholic from England, while soon-to-be Lord Everard Hume is a soldier from rural Scotland and a Protestant. Thrown together in the midst of a Jacobite rebellion, they fight their growing attraction even as they try to ensure the survival of their families and estates. Their fathers arranged a fail-safe plan long ago, but with both of them out of the picture, it is up to the next generation to navigate ever-shifting loyalties. In this opposites-attract story, Frantz (A Heart Adrift) explores how faith and love can triumph over most obstacles--including betrayal within a family. The beginning reads slowly while laying out the complicated political situation in 1715, but once the romance revs up, the pace quickens. VERDICT Readers who love Celtic settings will rejoice over this offering featuring bonny Scotland. For fans of historical fiction from the likes of Jocelyn Green, Michelle Griep, and Elizabeth Camden.--Christine Barth

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 2, 2023
In the gripping latest from Frantz (A Heart Adrift), a Catholic noblewoman fights for survival amid the Jacobite rebellion. It’s 1715, and 28-year-old Lady Blythe Hedley has been sent by her father, the Duke of Northumbria, to France where she’s safe from the anti-Catholic hostility sweeping England. Though Blythe can worship freely in France, she’s aimless and unfulfilled. But after her father finally accedes to her homesickness and summons her back to England, disaster strikes when an anti-Catholic mob storms the family castle. After escaping, Blythe flees to the Scottish estate of the earl of Wedderburn, a trusted Protestant, but upon arriving she learns the earl died that night, leaving behind his grief-stricken son, Everard Hume, to take his place. After an awkward introduction, Blythe’s struck by Everard’s “powerful presence” and “well-defined cheekbones,” and though her presence throws a wrench into the workings of the estate (which also houses the rest of Everard’s family), the two grow closer. But religious unrest brews outside the castle walls, interfering with Everard’s efforts to protect Blythe, who must herself decide whom to trust. Frantz carefully unpacks a complicated period of religious persecution, lending this romance depth, fascinating moral stakes, and a palpable sense of suspense. Readers will be hooked until the satisfying close.

Starred review from November 1, 2022
Tensions are seething between Scotland and England in 1715. Scottish lord Everard Hume knows members of his wayward family are under intense scrutiny, so harboring an enemy stranger under his very roof is unthinkable, even if she is a bonnie lass. When her father's exile endangers her, Lady Blythe Hedley, who is English, finds refuge at the home of her late godparents and their surly son, Everard. As the pair's steely opposition to one another is slowly undone, resentment melts into desire, leaving them in the crosshairs of a vindictive Crown determined to win the battle of ardor versus allegiance. Frantz stakes her claim once again as a preeminent literary force for Scottish historical romance. The Rose and the Thistle is set at the explosive intersection of religion and politics in eighteenth-century Europe and brilliantly depicts the early Georgian era's intricate social and cultural landscape. Frantz remains poetic in her craft and rewards readers with a colorful brogue, picturesque settings, and passionate characters who bravely confront issues of religious persecution, loyalty to one's beliefs, and seemingly irreconcilable differences. A masterful achievement of historical complexity and scintillating romance sure to thrill readers with its saga of love under siege.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.