Customer Reviews

Quest for a Kelpie

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I was shocked to see the lukewarm response to this book by the preveious two reveiwers--in fact I was surprised to see only two reviews. Perhaps there are more on Amazon under a different edition.

I just finished this book, and I have to say that it's the perfect book for anyone who loves reading about Scotland and the period of Bonnie Prince Charlie and who also has devoured Sally Watson's books over the years. (Most of Sally Watson's books are now back in print.) The difference is that this book was written in 1986 and Watson wrote most of hers in the 70s. Also the author, Frences Hendry, who went on after this one, her first, to write many books is a Scottish historian, and Sally Watson is a Northwest Oregon author who researched many different eras and areas of the world.

I don't agree with the previous author that the plot is confusing. I wasn't confused at all and also had no trouble following the names. There is a great deal of authentic, period Scottish dialogue; however, there's an extensive glossery of terms at the beginning of the book so no one could miss it. Perhaps it's the dialogue that confused the previous readers. I don't think most avid readers of historical fiction would have any trouble understanding the dialogue, character's names, or plot.

I thoroughly enjoyed the heroine, Jeannie Main, who continually gets into scrapes, beginning with helping to avert a clash of the fishermen with the gypsies, which puts the gypsy family in her debt and launches all of the the exciting, sad, joyous, sometimes strange and wonderful events to come in this book. Througout most of the book, Jeannie is a housemaid for a well-to-do family in the town as was her mother before her. She's treated almost like family. The climax of the book comes when first the highlanders come to raid the town and then the Redcoats come and do similar things.

The patriarchal head of the gypsy clan, Margaret Davidson, often uses her older children to help and warn Jeannie, and she has the second sight and has told Jeannie that she'll make one king and break another and that she'll ride the Kelpie, a mythical beast who is said to drown those who try to ride it. Jeannie does ride this beast, but it's left to the reader to decide if she rode a kelpie to save her family (the successful master of a kelpie gets a wish) or if it is merely a cruel English officer's horse.

There's a bit of romance in this book, just as with a good Sally Watson book. My only criticism is that several of the characters needed to have been fleshed out, particularly Celia, who is supposed to have been very, very dear to Jeannie (when Jeannie writes a letter to her great-great granddaugher) and yet rarely appears and rarely has any dialogue. Mistress Clark and Mistress Main, Jeannie's mother, and Margaret Davidson, three adult women, are the only characters who have been fully developed apart from Jeannie herself.

But in any case, Quest for a Kelpie is an exciting book; in it I learned a great deal about the period and about the Scottish lowlanders, how they lived, their protestant worldview and customs, their many daily and seasonal challenges (including a bout of an unfamiliar plague, typhoid,brought by an American ship). I also discovered that the lowlanders had to deal with both the Highlanders and the British in a way similar to what happened in the US during the civil war.

After reading the amazingly fantastic book, Quest for a Maid, I came upon this book, which is by the same author, hoping to have the same experience. This was not the case. This book was confusing, with too many names to keep straight. It was a good plot, yet not very well told. I kept counting the pages till I'd be done. It follows Jeannie, a young girl, in her adventures. It is during the 1700s and is set in Scotland. Jeannie experiences pain, death, meaning, belief, and much more, but after a while you don't care what happens. You shouldn't feel a need to read this book, and if you are looking for a exciting, well-written book, read Quest for a Maid instead.

This book was very hard to follow, but it had an interesting plot.