Review: Gosford’s Daughter – Mary Daheim

It’s 1585 at Gosford’s End in the Scottish Highlands, where seventeen-year-old Sorcha Fraser is impatient to sample life outside of her close-knit family circle. Graced with the beauty and spirit of her parents, Iain and Dallas, she doesn’t have long to wait. While out riding, Sorcha meets a strangely compelling young man in priestly robes. She can’t foresee that Gavin Napier’s destiny will become forever intrinsically linked with her own fate. As Catholics, they are an endangered species in Protestant Scotland. Even King James has renounced the religion of his mother, Mary Stuart. The lives of all who remain faithful to “popish” ways are in grave danger.

Yet every time fate throws Sorcha and Gavin together, they’re cruelly torn apart. At court, she becomes a favorite of King James, who sends her to comfort his imprisoned mother in England. After Mary’s execution, Sorcha returns to Scotland where she finds the capricious monarch entangled in a nest of vipers. The most vicious of all is a dazzling courtesan who wields her beauty to set the clans against each other. But ultimately not even those otherworldly powers can prevail against the will–and the love–of Gavin Napier and Gosford’s daughter.

Gosford’s Daughter continues the story that began with The Royal Mile. First published in 1988 under the title, Passion’s Triumph.

Series:
Release Date: February 14, 2015
Publisher: Camel Press
Source: Manic Readers
Reviewer: Kim M.
Rating:

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Reviewer’s Thoughts

Gosford’s Daughter by Mary Daheim was a really enjoyable historical romance read. I loved Sorcha’s character in this book. She is young, beautiful, and full of life. She is at the perfect age to fall in love, and Sorcha and Gavin are put together at the perfect time. However, frustratingly for the reader, they are torn apart over and over, just as it seems they have found one another, and are ready to really be together! While this is frustrating, it does make for a good read, because you really don’t have a clue as to what is going to happen next in the story. I thought the book was well written, and the setting was really well described. I could definitely picture Scotland’s scenary in my mind while I was reading. Sorcha’s character was likable, and as a reader I definitely was rooting for her happiness the entire time, which is important to me. I also was a huge fan of this book, because it takes place during a time that I find completely fascinating. The time period when the Tudors and Queen Mary were alive is so interesting to me, and I read every book I can get my hands on about their lives. Overall I thought this was a great book, and I enjoyed reading it from start to finish. I would definitely give it a FOUR out of FIVE stars!