Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A Scotsman in Love-Karen Ranney

A Scotsman in Love
Karen Ranney
Avon, May 2009, $6.99
ISBN: 9780061252433

In 1852, portrait painter Margaret Dalrousie fled St. Petersburg, Russia where she had been a Tsarist favorite to hide from people in remote Glengarrow, Scotland. She is unable to paint with her only relief from the demons that eat at her gut being long solitary walks.

Grieving his wife and daughter, Lord Robert McDermott comes home to Glengarrow to escape the well meaning for the most part but trite sympathy of the Ton. When he sees the artist on her constitution, he blithely informs her to find a new location to haunt as she treks on his property. Robert wants to be left alone as much as Margaret does. Her continual trespassing and her constant firing weapons irritate him. However not as much as his attraction to her which makes the Earl feels guilty; he especially wants to know why a beautiful woman hides in this God forsaken spot. They share grief, desire and the beginning of love, but are those enough to overcome the ghosts of the past that occupy much of their respective minds.

This terrific Victorian romance focus on two despondent people filled with guilt and remorse, who have run away from society. The plot is passionate and poignant because the lead couple fear love and are obsessed with avoiding any relationship especially caring for someone else as that leaves a person crippled with mental anguish and self-reproach. Karen Ranney provides a profound character driven mid nineteenth century tale of love trying to heal two battered souls running away from life.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: