A Hundred Lies

HISTORICAL:  An orphan, Rose is raised by her Aunt Nelda and Uncle Oswell. To make a living she “reads” palms by gathering information from servants and gossips. A noblewoman, Edrea Brantingham is upset about her reading because there is too much truth to it. Rose divines Edrea is pregnant, but not by her husband. Edrea deems it necessary to kill Rose, her aunt, and uncle. While hiding from Edrea, Domhnall visits Rose’s shop to purchases herbals for his mother. His best friend, Hayden refuses to enter because of the smell of the herbals. Domhnall instantly falls for Rose. Little does he know Rose and Uncle Oswell are soon to uproot to Scotland to evade Edrea. Once in Scotland, Rose and Oswell set up a stall. Domhnall sees Rose in the marketplace and asks his mother to hire her to work at the castle.  There is evil afoot no one could have predicted.

“A Hundred Lies” is a cautionary tale of what can happen when one lies even with the best intentions. The reader is transported to ancient times when castles are the norm. One can feel the hustle and bustle of the marketplace as Domhnall walks through and suddenly comes upon Rose. The world building is wonderful at first, but gets bogged down with the wordiness of the descriptions significantly slowing the pace of what is otherwise a delightful story. One questions why compassionate Domhnall would be friends with someone as snide as Hayden. The characters are all well-written, and the special capabilities of Domnall and his mother, Deirdre are quite believable. A wonderful story with several twists that will astound the reader!

Belinda Wilson