Devil Water

by Anya Seton

This fiercely beautiful novel tells the true story of Charles Radcliff, a Catholic nobleman who joined the short-lived Jacobite rebellion of 1715, and of his daughter, Jenny, by a secret marriage. Set in the wilds of Northumbria, teeming London, and colonial Virginia—where Jenny eventually settled on the estate of the famous William Byrd of Westover—Jenny’s story reveals one young woman’s loyalty, passion, and courage as she struggles between living in the Old World and the New. This vividly powerful novel, like its predecessor The Winthrop Woman, combines thoroughly documented history with superb storytelling.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Romance, British Literature, 18th Century, Historical Romance

526 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Anya Seton (January 23, 1904 (although the year is often misstated to be 1906 or 1916) - November 8, 1990) was the pen name of the American author of historical romances, Ann Seton.

Ann Seton was born in New York, and died in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. She was the daughter of English-born naturalist and pioneer of the Boy Scouts of America, Ernest Thompson Seton and Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson. She is interred at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich.

Her historical novels were noted for how extensively she researched the historical facts, and some of them were best-sellers.[citation needed] Dragonwyck (1941) and Foxfire (1950) were both made into Hollywood films. Two of her books are classics in their genre and continue in their popularity to the present; Katherine, the story of Katherine Swynford, the mistress and eventual wife of John of Gaunt, and their children, who eventually became the basis for the Tudor and Stuart families of England, and Green Darkness, the story of a modern couple plagued by their past life incarnations. Most of her novels have been recently republished, several with forewords by Philippa Gregory.

Her novel Devil Water concerns James, the luckless Earl of Derwentwater and his involvement with the Jacobite rising of 1715. She also narrates the story of his brother Charles, beheaded after the 1745 rebellion, the last man to die for the cause. The action of the novel moves back and forth between Northumberland, Tyneside, London and America.

Anya Seton stated that the book developed out of her love for Northumberland. Anya certainly visited her Snowdon cousins at Felton. Billy Pigg, the celebrated Northumbrian piper played 'Derwentwater's Farewell' especially for her. The novel shows her typical thorough research of events and places, though the accents are a little wayward. Anya Seton said that her greatest debt of all was to Miss Amy Flagg of Westoe Village in South Shields, her father's birthplace.

Reviews

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ · Rating 3 out of 5]

On Good reads we all have our little quirks as readers. One of mine is that when I settle down with a book unless its a favourite author I'm expecting at least a 3* read. For me thats a good, but not memorable read. Even though I'm not the slightest bit mathematically inclined. I have a little line graph in my head until I settle on my final rating.

This is a book where the graph looked like the Swiss Alps until I ended up back where I started at 3*

For me, a big part of the problem was when the story changed from Charles/James to Jenny. I now know this is part of Seton's family history (which I didn't know till afterwards when I read the author's note) but I think Seton was probably hoping to discover more about the character of Jenny. Since she didn't I now know what a Goodreads “Mary Sue” is, as in spite of her sufferings, Jenny remains a blank perfect doll. Rob is better drawn but Seton doesn't make him a sympathetic character.

I do think Seton may have been better to have kept her focus on Charles. The narrative in that part was a real page turner. The language felt authentic (other than a slightly too early use of the expression about needing to break eggs to make an omelette) Doubtful even if it would have been in use in France at that time – really can't see a man from Northern England using it.

I have a copy of Katharine which is considered by many to be Seton's best work. If I don't enjoy that - & I am now not in a rush to get to it!- I'm just going to assume this is author that for me has dated badly.

Can't win them all. :)

[Misfit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so pleased that this author's novels are being reprinted, I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them, especially Katherine. This is a fascinating tale, based upon the Radcliffs of Derentwater (Devil Water), staunch catholics and loyal to the Stuart cause, and descended from Charles II via the wrong side of the blanket. Charles Radcliff, the younger brother has a secret marriage to a lower born woman who gives birth to the love of his life, his daughter Jenny.

The story takes you from the moors of Northumberland to the Jacobite rebellion of '15 to the tobacco farms of Virginia, and back again to London for a nail biting finish after the final Jacobite rebellion and the battle at Culloden. Seton has a wonderful way of setting her scenes so that you can almost feel you are right there with it. I also enjoyed her way of writing different dialects (the Northumbrians, and the Virginia "twangs"), which definitely enhance the reading experience.

All in all a highly entertaining read, and one I will pick up again and again over the years. It's not quite up to the same par as Katherine (that's a 10 star book in my rating) or the Winthrop Woman but definitely worth the time, especially for any lover of historical fiction.

[Emery Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to other reviewers, I had very mixed feelings about this book. From a historical perspective, the research was impeccable, from the dialect and unique culture of 18th century Northumberland to Virginia of the early colonial period and all of the historical figures worked into the story.

On the negative side, even with my familiarity with this history, I struggled to maintain interest in the first 100 pages. Many times I felt the details were excessive and severely encumbered the plot progression. I also had some trouble with the flow of the story, feeling it too broken up as it spans almost forty years and is written as six books, some with large time gaps in between.

The book begins with a very detailed account of the early life of Charles Radcliffe, young brother to the 3rd Earl of Derwentwater who was executed for treason after the 1715 Jacobit uprising. The author recounts the event leading to the uprising that ended swiftly as an almost tragic comedy of errors, yet I felt almost complete emotional detachment from the main characters. When I did feel sympathy, it was more for James (the Earl) than for his reckless younger brother, but I always felt as if I were watching them with detachment, as if characters in a stage play.

For the first third of the book, the author tended to jump between Charles and James and then finally moved on to Jenny (at about page 230) and centered the rest of the book on her. It felt like separate books that didn't quite mesh togerther. I liked Jenny's character very much and the love story between she and Rob was compelling. This was truly the best part of the book for me, but then it circled back around to the Jacobite intrigue with the rising of 1745 and her father's subsequent execution.

I think I would have enjoyed this story more had the author decided to begin with Jenny and fill in her family background as the story progressed.

For those interested in English Jacobite history, particulalry the Uprising of 1715, I enjoyed Walter Besant's Dorothy Forster, another biographical fiction that relates many of these same events through the first person narrative of Dorothy Forster, sister to General Thomas Forster, a Northumberland MP, who like Charles Radcliffe, also escaped Newgate for France. I felt Besant's account of these particular events was more emotionally engaging.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, Anya Seton does not fail to engross. I completely forgot to take any notes for my review because I was so engaged in this tale. I always appreciate her novels because she is an author who knows how to fully research her storyline.

[Carol Storm · Rating 2 out of 5]

if Edgar Allan Poe were trying to write like Sir Walter Scott, he might come up with something like this.

On the surface, it seems to be a very romantic, chivalrous tale, of a gallant cavalier who gives his life defending the cause of Bonnie Prince Charlie . . . and the beautiful daughter he leaves behind, who finds passion and a new start in the New World.

Problem is, this is Anya Seton, and she does to romance what Jim Morrison does to the blues. Starting off with something familiar, she makes things get somehow sinister, somehow creepy, somehow twisted.

Doesn't Jenny seem to spend a lot of time flirting with her dad? A lot of time . . .

Isn't her rugged husband kind of an abusive jerk? Almost like he's an attack on the vulgarity of the new classless America that ostensibly we're supposed to admire . . .

Jenny is cute and helpless as an orphan girl, but by the time she's all grown up she's got a mean streak and a chip on her shoulder . . . spurning young men or else shocking them with obscene taunts which reveal -- or rather hint -- at an enormous trauma she must have suffered as a small child.

Gallant Sir Charles certainly was fond of his beautiful daughter . . .

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the tale primarily of Charles Radcliffe who was a Catholic Englishman who supported the Jacobite cause in the 1700s.

This novel is well researched and tells of the lives of many historical figures of that time.

Sometimes it got a little too descriptive and I simply skimmed a bit when that happened, but I have to say the ending was amazing and had me in tears.

If you love Outlander and just great historical novels, I can't imagine you wouldn't enjoy this!

[Cathie · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the back cover:

Devil Water is the true story of Charles Radcliffe, a Catholic nobleman who joined in the doomed Jacobite rebellion of 1715, and of Jenny, his daughter by a secret marriage. Set in the wilds of Northumbria, teeming London and colonial Virginia, Devil Water is a story of loyalty, passion, and courage in both the Old World and the New.

My impression:

Typical of Anya Seton this was a marvelous read. It started out slowly for me but picked up quickly. I read this book because it was selected as one of our group reads in Historical Fiction. I did Google several of the characters and found that Ms. Seton's research was correct. Very little is known, however, about Jane "Jenny" Radcliffe or Rob Wilson so I leave those to Ms. Seton's data and take her word on them. The problem with historical fiction is that the reader knows the outcome from the beginning, but it does not make it any less regretful. I enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it. It deals with a era in Scottish/English history and pre-Revolutionary American history that I know little about and I was glad to learn more.

[~☆~Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this several times as I own an old copy and I really enjoy most of this book except toward the end I get very annoyed with how he treats his daughter. I guess that most anyone who likes English history would enjoy it.

[Mela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fear, the devil’s holy water

Let's get a deep breath...

What was the book about?

About
--> the glory of the pride/honor or the unhappiness that such pride can cause?
--> the strength of the loyalty or the death that such loyalty can bring?
--> the selflessness of the love or the harm such love can do?

Or perhaps that, in the end, nothing (also the mentioned above) really matters... Or it does matter?

Self-preservation is the first and strongest law of nature

I love historical fiction like this one when big historical events interwind with everyday life. Thanks to it, on one hand, the novel is like a textbook for history lessons, on the other hand, it is a journey in time.

She had learned about suffering since she passed this way before, she had learned about fear and death

I also love when there are interesting characters. I can then feel with (for) them happiness, anger, sadness, loneliness, amazement, betrayal and many other emotions. Some relation between characters in "Devil Water" were simply phenomenally described/shown. E.g. between a daughter and a father, in the example of Jenny and Charles, and of Evelyn and Mr Byrd. Besides these four there were people like James, Rob, Betty, Alec, Meg, Ann and many others. They all created a masterpiece of historical fiction.

Sperare est timere. (...) There was indeed fear in hoping

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed the two previous Seton books I’ve read; her strength is in writing well-detailed historical novels with strong, entertaining plots, and in that regard this one is no different. I was consistently entertained and kept wanting to know what happened next. And I learned a fair bit about the Jacobite rebellions, and some about colonial Virginia. The settings are well-done and enjoyable to read about. Seton’s books are certainly more immersive than those of many other historical fiction writers, who tend to skip over the description and assume readers will fill it in for themselves; Seton takes worldbuilding as seriously as many a fantasy writer and I always appreciate that.

I’m of two minds about the characters. Charles Radcliffe is possibly the most complex character here, and his exploits are interesting to read about. His daughter Jenny takes center stage for most of the book, and she’s just okay--she has her moments, but Seton’s rhapsodizing about her beauty and inviting us to feel sorry for her because other women are jealous and therefore dislike her often tends to overwhelm her actual personality. Her friend Evelyn is the more interesting of the two, and with far less screen time. And, unfortunately, a lot of Jenny’s time is spent on a quite unromantic romance (I concur with the other reviewers who called this the least interesting part of the book), which Seton nevertheless seems to expect us to find romantic. It reaches the height of silliness with a contrived “devil worship” episode, which, while one of the most important scenes in the book as far as its effect on the plot goes, takes up all of three pages including build-up and immediate aftermath, making it near impossible to take seriously--and it was a goofy idea besides.

Finally, every time I review an Anya Seton book I find myself writing some variation on: “Overall, this book has aged well for something written 50-60 years ago, but....” What comes after the “but” is always different. In this case, it’s a particularly unfortunate sequence from which it appears that Seton realized it’s a really bad thing to hit or rape one’s spouse, but considered such actions easily forgiveable if the offending spouse apologizes and promises never to do so again, and furthermore, that that person can show their continued love by making decisions for the other person without asking their preferences one way or the other. (Also, a kid with a limp and webbed fingers is better off dead? Huh?)

Meanwhile, the prose itself is serviceable, although the foreshadowing is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. Three stars is perhaps a bit generous in my view, but Devil Water is overall an entertaining book and well-executed, although not on the same level as Katherine or The Winthrop Woman.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having previously read only one other book by Ms Seton -- The Winthrop Woman, which I enjoyed tremendously -- I had high hopes for Devil Water. I was greatly disappointed, however, and almost put the book aside after the first 100 pages. The thing that makes this book hard to like is that the characters themselves aren't very likable, and near the end (spoiler alert!) one of the characters perpetrates an act of violence against another that is so heinous it is unforgivable, and yet when those two characters come together again their reunion is heroic and full of passion. The most interesting parts of the story were those that took place in early Colonial America and those are woefully few. Unfortunately, the action jumps from one character to another and never really fully rounds out anyone. This book is based on real people and history and it is well-researched, but the fiction that fills the blanks is too strange even for fiction.

[Lady of the Lake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it's me? Perhaps I'm just not connecting for some reason. It does seem to be a long streak of books that aren't taking me away...i don't know but This is another story that just didn't send me into another time and place...while yes the historical facts are amazing...albeit nothing I haven't read about (many times) before. The Jacobite period isn't my favorite time either which may have to do with how well i liked this book... there are many books i have read that use this time frame...added nothing new for me to keep me from zoning out...the time frame would be fine if the characters and their lives made me want to walk with them through their tale...all i can say is I am happy I finally read DEVIL WATER and can cross it off my TBR list...however this is not a story I will read again.

(Anya Seton however did write KATHERINE which is one of my all time faves.!)

[MAP · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel following the actual person of Charles Radcliff, younger brother of James, Earl of Derwentwater, who was one of the leaders of the Jacobite revolt in 1715.

This book had me totally hooked from the very beginning. I was never once bored or waiting to get away from some character and back to another one. This book WOULD have been a 5 star, except for 1 way over the top incident about 70 pages from the end, from which, in my opinion, the book never recovered (or at least, my opinion of the book never recovered.)

Other than that, it was a great book, and I'll be seeking out more Anya Seton.

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in 8th grade when my English teacher turned me onto Anya Seton, and went on to reread it a few times. It was by far my favorite Seton novel, but I'm not sure if I could get through it today. Maybe a little too florid? However, the history was well-researched and so it's an entertaining way to learn about England during the Jacobite Rebellion and colonial Virginia.

[Lisa Shower · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic!

A favorite of mine from my teenage years, I read it again, now, fifty years later. And despite not remembering details, I was enthralled all over again.

[Marcie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books by Anya Seton are not easy reads. They are long and detailed. Devil Water is no exception. I plowed through in places trying to find the story rather than so many details that I would never remember. Ultimately, the story captured me and was so worth it. Charles Radcliffe is the focus of the book, as well as the Scottish uprising. Charles and his brother James were dedicated Catholics who enthusiastically fought to bring James Stuart back to England to claim his rightful place as King of England. As the years go by Charles’s daughter Jenny takes the central role in the book. Excellent research and writing! The book is so old that I had no problem getting it online from the public library.

[Nancy]

DNF....will read at another time, maybe. Bored and need something with a great story that keeps me engaged and with lyrical, lovely prose right now.

[Anya · Rating 1 out of 5]

it may be devil water but it’s dull as ditch water (give me those 5 days back)

[Deana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a love-hate relationship with this book. On the one hand, I found the story (meaning the plot and characters) fascinating, and moreso because it is based on real people and real events. I found myself looking multiple things up on Wikipedia during each sitting. And yet... it was an INCREDIBLY slow read. It kept putting me to sleep. Partly because it seemed to drag on and on - events seemed to take far more pages than needed (spoiled by the internet much?) and ... I don't know, I guess I just didn't care for the writing style. Which makes me sad, because this author has been recommended by many people. Then again, they have never recommended this book in particular, so perhaps this one isn't really representative.

The story revolves around Charles Radcliffe and his daughter, Jenny. Charles is the grandson of King Charles II of England, and his older brother is the Earl of Derwentwater (translated as Devil Water) at Dilston. They are fervently Catholic in a time when England is moving quickly toward Protestantism, and are supporters (to the death!) of "The Pretender", "King James III" (in quotes, because he was never recognized as King although he was technically next in succession, but he was Catholic and there was a new-ish law preventing Catholics from taking the throne).

But the story more surrounds his daughter, Jenny (Jane), who was the result of a childhood affair with a country girl named Meg, whose father forced a marriage between them when he discovered her pregnancy, of course causing a scandal in the upper class life of Charles and his family. Jenny is torn in many ways due to her mixed heritage - between country life and life as "a lady", between Catholicism and Protestantism, between life in the north country and life in London, between romantic love to a childhood companion and fixed marriage to better her status and that of her family. I cried at multiple points in her story, and ESPECIALLY a lot at the ending... I began to believe I was in love with Rob myself, and was horrified by his reaction [to a spoiler], but glad of how he 'remedied' it.

And the historical details thrown in are just fascinating. I do think it's worth struggling through the writing style, but be prepared to take forever reading this. It -is- broken up into six shorter "Books" by timeline, so that gives good stopping points, where you can stop and come back to it months later like I did :)

[Elli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book followed the story of the Radcliffe family, a Roman Catholic family in 18th century England who were heavily involved in trying to restore the Catholic Stuarts to the English throne. It was particularly focused on the youngest brother, Charles, whose loyalty to the Stuart cause was life long thing. His relationship with his daughter also was a major factor in the presented story. It was really about the both of them, and everything that effected their lives. It was an easy book to involve in. The characters were very real and the situations were very effectively presented. The story lines flowed very naturally, and there were also some suspenseful moments, violence, and some hopelessness resolved. It contained all the elements that help you relate to the what was happening at that time in that place, and somewhat the factors that allowed them to happen. A very fine book!

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this book six stars, I would. But I have special prejudices--first, I have been fascinated with the Stuarts and Jacobites for years, and second, my sixth great grandfather appears as one of the book's historical figures in colonial Virginia. This romantic and tragic story of Charles Radcliffe, the fiercely loyal cousin of Bonnie Prince Charlie, in some ways parallels Charles Stuart's own story. And Charles Radcliffe's beautiful and loyal daughter, who spent her early years in the wilds of Northumbria and is in love with a commoner from that same wild and untamed area, reminds me of Catherine Earnshawe in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. I was very sorry when I reached the last page. This novel could conceivably continue. I hope it will.

[Brenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oy this was a difficult one for me. The story seemed to not mesh well together and the characters always seemd a bit distint-you didn't get a feel for them or ingrain yourself into their lives which is what I enjoy so much about books. For a short window of time you can become a completely different person and live separate life. This book didn't do that for me which made it rather painful to read. The back story about the Jacobite rebellion and the attention to historical detail is what saved it from being "wall banged." I have to give credit where credit is due-Seton sure does know her history.

[longtimewish · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Estoy en un desafío de leer una novela de Anya Seton al mes, y esta fue la de abril. Si bien la prosa fue muy buena ningún personaje me importó, y ya que a pesar del trasfondo histórico de las rebeliones jacobitas esta es una novela muy character driven, no me pudo importar la historia tampoco. Y encima de todo el romance es horrible. Una decepción total.

[K.E. Coles · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's donkey's years since I read this as a young teen. I absolutely loved it. Not sure I would now so don't want to re-read in case it spoils the memory. Probably quite dated now.

[Agosto2010 fermare l'esecuzione di Ahmadreza Djala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letto da ragazzina, consigliato da mia nonna.
Ritrovato per caso tanti anni dopo.
Rilettura non deludente.

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m giving this one star because the book publisher omitted 37 pages (from 328-365) from the copy I have and now I can’t continue reading! 😤

[Jeremy Walton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girl from the North Country
This was a book club choice, so once again I was reading in a genre (historical fiction) which I wouldn't ordinarily select for myself (although I remember reading the author's Green Darkness nearly fifty years ago). Set in England, France and the Colony of Virginia between 1709 and 1746, the two main protagonists are Charles Radcliffe (or, as spelt elsewhere, Radclyffe) and Jenny, his daughter from a secret marriage. The duration of the action includes the two Jacobite Risings of 1715 and 1745, which were attempts by James II, brother of Charles II, to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 which installed James's daughter Mary II and her husband William III as joint monarchs. After Mary's death in 1694, William ruled alone until his death in 1702, when Mary's sister Anne became Queen. Anne was succeeded in 1714 by her cousin, who became George I, followed in 1727 by his son George II.

This sort of detail is required to understand the actions and motivation of Charles, who's devoted to the restoration of James II, and also of Anne and both Georges, who are featured as characters in the story. However, I didn't find that understanding made Charles an appealing character. Of course, views of nobility (Charles was Earl of Derwentwater), class and masculinity have changed since the eighteenth century, but I found him to be selfish, unthinking, impetuous and - in his attitude to his daughter - unreasonably possessive, and somewhat inappropriate in places (e.g. "His voice dropped to its most caressing note, he spoke to Jenny as though he were luring a desired woman to an assignation" [p314]). As for his impact on other women, here's the impression he makes on his cousin Lady Betty [p183]:

"Charles still had that charming air of mockery and yet admiration in his bold grey eyes. The look which used to make her heart tremble."

Betty appears to approve: thus, on the next page, "she felt her veins burn with a honeyed fire, she weakened in his arms, and clung to him in fierce need", and later on [p193], whilst watching the Northern Lights, she thinks "[n]o celestial fireworks could affect the suffering which she felt already - the guilt, the fear, the agonized thwarted love". Elsewhere, a character wonders "could the past ever be forgotten, did it not always lie buried somewhere like a sleeping beast, ready to spring up and sink its fangs in the defenseless [sic] heart?" [p442]. This is all somewhat overwrought and later on, it's supplemented by overwriting in the explication at the climax of the search for the key to Charles's cell [p232]:

"'Tis found," he greeted her abruptly as he always did [...]
"You mean the key?" she whispered, dizzy with relief.
"Aye [...] All's ready for Thursday night, If *he'll* be."
Betty swallowed hard, knowing that the "he" was Charles.

The action switches to Jenny in the second part of the book, but the reader might already be thinking that this is making the story overlong (my copy has 570 pages). Certainly, there is a whole cavalcade of characters to keep track of, most of whom are historical figures. For example, a "distant cousin" of Charles is Dr John Radcliffe (who later funded the construction of - amongst other buildings - the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford) and who gives a (somewhat crowded) party in Chapter 2, which includes "a tiny young man with a crooked back most obvious" who turns out to be Alexander Pope. Getting all the characters (including George Seton, who was a Scottish nobleman who took part in the 1715 uprising) into the book might have seemed like a good idea, but keeping track of all the names appears to be a challenge even for the author, since there's a Father Benjamin Petre who's of the party on p25, and a Lord Petre who's "only nineteen, undersized and somewhat like a whippet" who's playing cards on p43.

The author uses inversions frequently (e.g. "This unpalatable fact Byrd had never mentioned in England [p391]; "From Charles she had not heard in nearly a year" [p330]; "No, of death one must never think" [p516]) which reminds me of the famous criticism of Churchill ("nonsense up with which I will not put"), and there are a few striking - if not impenetrable - events involving facial expressions such as, "His blue eyes snapped with fervour" [p382]; "He peered into the chaise and greeted her with a joyful flicker of the eyes" [p358]; "Chesterfield noted this at once and sent her a smile which had charm" [p542].

Finally, I found the use of dialect - e.g. "Wuns! [...]'Tis that foreign rapscallion o' the Duke's" [p347]; "Whyst and agyn I come out I her-re m'lady [...] There's tr-rees and fields up yonder, am' 'tis so hot i' the house, I canna br-reathe" [p234]; "I' fakins, 'tis young Radcliffe o' Dilston! Oh, but he seems a canny-looking lad!" [p8] - to be nothing but a distraction, since the meaning of the dialogue had to be reconstructed in my head. An interesting enough story, but I didn't care for the characters despite their privations, and I thought the book over-stuffed.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This small paperback has been on my bookshelf for decades. Recently I noticed it and realized that I had never actually read it! That surprised me because I thought I had read all of Anya Seton's historical fiction novels years ago. I must have bought this paperback back in the 70s meaning to read it, but then it just got lost among the books around it. Anyway, once I started reading I was captivated by the story and the history behind it. The Radcliffe family were Roman Catholics at an uneasy time in England - the early 18th century. They are hoping that once Queen Anne dies her brother James will take the throne. James is the rightful king in their eyes, but since he is Catholic, there is much opposition to him. The country turns instead to George, the first of the Hanoverian kings. James Radcliffe and his brother Charles get caught up in the Rising, an effort to put "the Pretender" on the throne. They anticipate help from France which never comes. There follows mass incarcerations and executions, including James Radcliffe. Charles manages to escape from England to join the Pretender and his "court" in France. And that is just the first half of this book! Charles' daughter Jenny then becomes the focus of the narrative which eventually follows her to Virginia and then back again to England in 1746 when Charles is captured during the failed attempt by the Jacobites to replace the Hanovers with Bonnie Prince Charlie, the "young pretender." As with all of Seton's books, her research has led to a story based in historical facts, with relatable characters and a wonderful sense of time and space. There is an Afterward in which Seton gives extra historical details and her references.

[Bianca Nagac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anya Seton has this power to put together a fictional and a historical story into something magical.

This is the first book I read about Northumberland and the conflict between Protestants and Catholics. After reading this book, it aroused my interest to have further readings about the Jacobites. I like how Charles Radcliffe made it up to Jenny - with all the lost years they had as a father and a daughter. Some characters - at least in my personal opinion - are not that likeable. For example, I particularly do not like how Rob treated Jenny at times.

The characters who stood out for me are Evelyn and Elizabeth Lee. The two characters had shown what true love is in their own ways. I am amazed how Evelyn hold on to her lover's promise until her last breath - despite having an unhappy ending. On the other hand, it is very brave for Elizabeth Lee to take Jenny in her new life because of her love for Charles Radcliffe. The lady didn't mind what her husband had to say and took great care of Jenny as if she was her own child. I also liked the closeness between best friends Jenny and Evelyn.

How it sparked my interest about Jacobites astounds me in such a way that the gap between me and Anya Seton did not hinder the impact it would bring to me - and perhaps the same goes for others. I must say that some parts may have bored me. But how the life would unfold for the father and the daughter is something one will look forward to.

[Rachel Viramontes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book in a used book store, and little did I know what a journey I was in for! I had never heard of Anya Seton before (which is a bit shocking to me since I’ve learned by now that she is quite a lauded author and has now many novels under her belt), but this book has started a fervent desire in me to read all her books!

I’m an absolute sucker for stories that span multiple years or generations. Something about seeing how a character’s history ripples through time makes me think in a different perspective. It makes you see the world differently, which is a very profound feeling to me.

I know not everyone is a fan of long or detailed passages, but I really enjoy Seton writing that way. To me it’s immersive and it’s world building, and it really transports me out of reality.

I think Seton also does an excellent job of balancing the fleshing out of historical context and events with allowing you to get to know the characters and connect with them. Many times I was so emotionally affected by what was happening, and I felt so much longing things to turn out certain ways for particular characters! When I would have to put down the book I would just be thinking about the story until I could pick it up again!

Overall I say this is a wonderfully written, immaculately researched, enchantingly told story! If you are remotely interested in historical fiction, Anya Seton must be on your list!