Letters of Fire and Sword

In the early thirteen hundreds, Scotland is rife with war, locked in a brutal battle with England. After Robert the Bruce is crowned King of Scotland, English King Edward I takes vengeance by ravaging the Scottish countryside and capturing six members of Robert the Bruce’s court. Among the captured is Lady Erca MacNeill, who refuses to denounce her loyalty to Bruce and Scotland for eight long years, losing everything she’s ever known in the process. Her first love, Sir Alexander MacMillan, one of Bruce’s loyal soldiers, will stop at nothing to rescue Erca and the other women. Together, he and Robert the Bruce fight to save Scotland and reunite with their loved ones. 

This harrowing historical novel dives deep into the brutal history of the bloody feud between England and Scotland, taking the reader on a dangerous adventure of vengeance, love, and loyalty. It’s clear the author has a deep love of history, and her passion and dedication shines as the events of the past come to life on the page. However, the timeline bounces back and forth between past and present, Erca and Alexander, which slows the pacing of the narrative and makes the plot hard to follow, and the flowery, repetitive language is distracting, pulling the reader from the story. Still, the events of this novel are hard to resist, and lovers of historical fiction will find themselves wrapped up in Ms. Wiley’s heroic, historical tale. For lovers of Scottish history and knights in shining armor, this story will hit the spot. 
 

Nicole Harlowe