16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Little-known history + poignant romance = terrific read!, July 21, 1998
This review is from: The Scottish Rose (Mass Market Paperback)
The gift of the story-teller is to enable the reader to experience the same wonder and awe of the 'what-if?' as does the writer at the moment of inspiration. In her third book, Jill Jones demonstrates anew both her superior imagination and writing skills.
If you've ever wondered what Scotland in the 1650's was like, here is perhaps more than you really wanted to know. For the very 1990's television personality Taylor Kincaid, the experience comes as part of her search while filming the lore and legends surrounding the Honours of Scotland which were part of the Majesty surrounding Mary, Queen of Scots. Did Mary really provide an additional treasure to accompany the crown, sceptre and sword? If so, where is it? And, what happened to those Honours during the Civil War? Further, what -- if anything -- does the rock structure known as the Ladysgate have to do with the long-deposed Queen?
Taking her crew from New York to Scotland, Taylor uses the opportunity to ! check out an inheritance from a relative of whose existence she hadn't known. Handed down through the ladies of the family, there is a diary and letters detailing Mary's chalice, The Scottish Rose, as well as its hiding place during the Cromwell era.
Duncan Fraser is a widower who has turned into himself after the deaths of his two young sons. Such fulfillment as his life has now, is as the chief of the coastal rescue mission. Although in his opinion he has rescued entirely too many fool-hardy wanderers from the rough North Sea around the Ladysgate, he can't imagine quite why he is so concerned about someone who hasn't even asked for his help. Instinctively, he senses her plea for help over time and distance, and plunges into the past after her. Together, they, along with the deaf-mute boy, Pauley, contrive to become a part of history without distorting it.
The research required for this marvelous book is simply mind-boggling, not to mention the intriguing way in wh! ich it is presented. How many of us, after all, are that w! ell acquainted with any history of three or four hundred years ago? It is a tribute to the author that no single thread of this complex tapestry is allowed to overshadow any other, yet the result is so vivid and so satisfying that you'll wish you could hang it on your wall.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scottish Rose Past and Present, November 27, 2000
This review is from: The Scottish Rose (Mass Market Paperback)
What a thrill when this book finally came out. Once again, Jill Jones has done an excellent job of entwining history with the present. While holding the reader's attention with an interesting plot and descriptions that paint vivid pictures with words, she titilates the desire to study the history of Scotland and England. An entertaining and informative writing that makes it easy to get involved with the characters.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In the Defense of a Tragic Queen, August 1, 2001
This review is from: The Scottish Rose (Mass Market Paperback)
What a job well done by an emerging new writer! Jill Jones not only captivated thousands of avid readers just like me but also provided a very interesting tapestry of a time when Scotland is besieged by the Puritan leader, Oliver Cromwell. Miss Jones actually "turned back the hands of time" when she showed the readers how is it like to live in a world chiefly governed by ignorance. Imagine a boy of ten such as Pauley who don't even know how to speak accused of being the "bairn" of a witch, and modern-day thrill seekers being transported back in time through the Ladysgate burned alive! What a nice place to be! But most of all, aside from the "timeless fairy-tale love stroy" of Duncan and Taylor (Mrs. Janet Fraser), lies a "truth" somewhat rejected by almost everyone reading the pages of history: the innocence of Mary, Queen of Scots. The story is not much about Greta's stupidity, Robert Gordon's "thievery", the Ogilvies' loyalty, and Lady Keith's long lost relative but rather on how history for so long looked down on a woman who's purely a victim of treachery and odd circumstances sorrounding her tragic life. "Queen Mary is innocent!", that is the message of the fabled chalice. A must-read book of a very talented writer!
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