Wild Angel
Sasha Lord
Signet, Jan 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451222855
In twelfth century France, Scottish lord Mangan O’Bannon sees the deaths from the senseless battle that he led because his monarch wanted to rule some French territory. Disgusted and feeling guilt, he rides away from the battlefield, his country, and his inheritance. Thirteen months later, the Abbott of St. Ignacio Monastery sends Brother Mangan on a mission to regain a stolen relic after telling the monk he is not ready to pledge because he must first forgive himself before God forgives him.
Sixteen years old Ashleigh travels with her parents to see her Scottish mom’s ailing mother, who disavowed her daughter for marrying a gypsy. Ashleigh has never met her aristocratic maternal grandmother. However, soldiers and peasants kill her father and group rape her mother before killing her; Ashleigh hides behind a plate device used in gypsy shows to vanish in thin air. When the killers leave, Ashleigh kills the remaining peasant and vows further vengeance.
Mangan saves the life of a half drowned Ashleigh. Exhausted they sleep in each other’s arms. When she awakens she uses the plate to hide from him. Ashleigh plays tricks on the villagers who were with the soldiers. The superstitious villagers fear God punishes them for what happened to the gypsies. They beg Mangan to help them gain God’s forgiveness though Mangan thinks it is a human trickster. As Mangan and Ashleigh keep running into each other, they fall in love, but she has to overcome her thirst for vengeance and he his guilt.
The lead couple is distinctive protagonists as he is a warrior who refuses to use his sword any more and she has killed a peasant out of vengeance and uses Gypsy “magical” devices to cause demonic havoc. Although imprisoned and severely battered with probably a concussion and a crushed finger, readers will doubt Mangan will want to make love with the grieving teen. Still their escapades as a unique duet make for a fine medieval romance.
Harriet Klausner
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