|
|
BOOK
ILLUMINATIONS
From Medieval Book Reviews
HOME
ROMANCE
FICTION SUSPENSE & THRILLERS
MYSTERY
AUTHORS REVIEWER
PROFILES
|
One Snowy Knight
by Deborah MacGillivray
A moving medieval Christmas romance that
peers into a lesser seen side of history
Widow Lady Skena MacIain struggles to
protect her own. The battle at Dunbar has left her without a
husband and her keep without a force to defend them against the
English. In the midst of war, providing for the basic needs and
welfare of the community becomes even more urgent and equally
difficult. Skena has seen much hardship. Intelligent and
inventive, she thinks up ingenious ways to protect those around her but
even someone as noble of heart as Skena needs sustenance for body and
soul. Anxious to
reach his new home at Craigendan Keep, Noel de Servian journeys across
a relentless snow-blinding landscape. Weather and temperature bring
him to the point of death. When her two children find a lifeless
warrior freezing in the snowstorm, they speak of a magical
gift. Skena has lived through too much to
believe in wishes and easy answers, but as Skena nurses him back to
health, she and Noel begin to know one another. This
handsome knight kindles a warmth in her heart. Skena touches a
place in Noel's heart but will fate deprive him again of his deepest
longings? Or will Cailleach, the Queen of Winter, work
magic? This Christmas, will Noel bring Skena her deepest wish?
Third in the Dragons of Challon series, the medieval Scottish romance ONE SNOWY KNIGHT is set in 1296,
shortly after the Battle of Dunbar and the sack of Beriwick.
Deborah MacGillivray gives readers an inside look at these historical
events, not only in the heart of her hero Noel, a man tortured by the
bloodshed he has witnessed, but also in the poverty experienced by
Skena
and her keep. Deborah MacGillivray does an exceptional job at
integrating Celtic knowledge into the heart of this Christmas romance.
Darker than her previous romances, ONE SNOWY KNIGHT brings alive an
aspect of medieval history not often seen in medieval romances, an
aspect that
medieval lovers will cherish for its authenticity. Deborah
MacGillivray does an exceptional job in combining historical setting
and artistic vision in her creation of the landscape of her
romances. From the first scene of the snow-stranded knight and
throughout the romance, Deborah MacGillivray creates stunning imagery
that makes the physical and emotional landscape come alive in the
reader's imagination. Not only can a reader easily visualize the
landscape, but one also hears it in the very language of the dialogue
and narration. Here, as in her previous medieval romances, the
reader is not so much given a history lesson but taken straight into
the heart of the medieval times through the imagery, the conflicts, the
characters, the landscape and above all by the artistry of language
itself.
As Deborah MacGillivray turns her vision to the darker aspects of
medieval Scottish history, the romance itself has a deeper emotional
impact. From the darkness and deprivation emerges a love that
resonates in the heart with its realness and substance. A light
superficial Christmas romance, ONE
SNOWY KNIGHT is not. Rather, ONE SNOWY KNIGHT is a romance that
resonates deeply precisely because Deborah MacGillivray dares to look
at the less often seen corners of history and of the soul.
Despite the
darker tenor of this romance, Deborah MacGillivray brings relief with
these wonderful precisely-placed magical moments, from the innocent
belief of children to the wonderful cadence of Skena's dialogue to
joyous intimate moments experienced between Skena and Noel. ONE SNOWY KNIGHT is also a romance
touched by magic, love and even a delightful sense of
humor. As a sequel to the previous two books, A RESTLESS KNIGHT and IN HER BED, this third romance
expands the scope and breadth of the series --- and makes this reader
anxiously await what this author has in store for the series as it
develops. Readers of the series will enjoy seeing characters
from the previous romances as well as the author's ability to expand
her vision to new areas, but ONE
SNOWY KNIGHT also works as a stand-alone for those readers new
to the series.
If you are a medieval junkie, like myself, Deborah MacGillivray's
romances, and ONE SNOWY KNIGHT
in particular, are not to be missed. With language and every
multi-layered detail, she takes a reader right in the period.
Artistry of writing accompanies the romance, making ONE SNOWY KNIGHT a romance that
will appeal to those readers who want more from their romances, to
those readers who want history beyond what one can get from a history
book and a moving romance coupled with beautiful writing itself.
A true delight for all medieval lovers!
Publisher: Zebra
Historical Romance (October 2009)
Series: Dragons of Challon
Other book in the series: Her Restless Knight, In Her Bed
Author
website
Reviewed by Merrimon,
Medieval Book Reviews
|
|
|
