Here Burns My Candle-Liz Curtis Higgs

Here Burns My Candle
Liz Curtis Higgs
Waterbrook, Mar 16 2010, $14.99
ISBN: 9781400070015

In 1745 Edinburgh, Highlander Lady Elisabeth Kerr marries royalist Lowlander Lord Donald Kerr. She conceals from her spouse that she is a pagan worshipper who believes in the ancient auld ways; he hides secrets from her as well.

Meanwhile his mother Lady Marjory hides gold underneath her floor, adores her adult sons, and struggles with remorse and guilt, which is buried in Greyfriars Church cemetery. Her other son Andrew and his wife Janet worry over her family and its impact on them as danger mounts with Prince Charles Edward Stuart leading the Jacobyte revolt into Edinburgh. The secret of the five Kerr’s explodes open threatening all of them and others.

Here Burns My Candle is a well written inspirational historical tale that takes a bit of time to establish the time and place, and to introduce the relationships between the key characters and the flaws of each of them. Once done, the story line rapidly accelerates as rebellion seems imminent and no one in Edinburgh and perhaps all of Scotland can avoid it. Caught in this explosive rebellious time is the Kerr family as their personal issues also ignite. Fans will enjoy this entertaining evangelical eighteenth century character driven tale.

Harriet Klausner