The Ruaig Inheritance

by Jean S. MacLeod

Ross MacKerral wasn't her true love, he had no need to be. He had taken her castle, her beloved island away from her . . . She couldn't believe what she'd just heard.

"Marry you?" Morvern repeated, as if in a daze. "I've never thought of marrying anyone."

"Why not give it a try, in that case?" Ross asked audaciously. "You're still a child - a damned attractive one, I have to admit-but someday you'll have to grow up."

188 pages, Trade Paperback

First published September 1, 1978

About the author

Jean Sutherland MacLeod was born in 20 January 1908 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She was the daughter of Elizabeth Allen and John MacLeod. Her father, who was a civil engineer, moved with jobs. Her education began at Bearsden Academy, continued in Swansea and ended in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She moved to North Yorkshire, England to marry with Lionel Walton on 1 January 1935, an electricity board executive, who died in 1995. They had a son, David Walton, who died two years before her. She passed away on 11 April 2011 at 103 years.

Jean S. MacLeod started writing stories for the magazine The People's Friend, before sold her first romance novel in 1936. She wrote contemporary romances, most of them were set in her native Scotland, or in exotic places like Spain or Caribbean, places that she normally visited for documented. From 1948 to 1965, she also published under the pseudonym of Catherine Airlie. She published her last novel in 1996, a year after her husband death. She was member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, where she met the mediatic writer Barbara Cartland, who was not too friendly.

Reviews

[Kay]

Yet another island story by JSM where the heroine has to marry H so she can remain on her beloved ancestral island. Yes, it's all about the island!!...Ruaig is supposedly a hebridean island,far out in the West where the total population is 40. Heroine has been born and raised in this closely knit community and the MacKerrel family owns the island. The story opens when h's father has died and according to her grandfather's will, the island has to go to a male heir. So h is really upset about her future because life anywhere else is unbearable to her and her mother. And it happens that the Hero, who is h's first male cousin, comes all the way from Australia to claim his inheritance. I was a bit disappointed as during most of the story heroine acts like a selfish brat and falls in love with the om thereby spending more time with him than with the hero.... the island- obsessed heroine cannot forgive the hero. h is convinced that the island should belong to her ---hates the hero even before he comes to see his inheritance I also felt sorry for the poor Hero as he worked his ass off- alone- to renew the island, while trying to please and appease the bratty h all the time as well. Hero even proposes marriage as a solution just so the h and her mother can stay on the island as before. (Hero is already a successful cattle baron in Australia, and he is also very patient in the face of heroine's antagonism). I seriously thought he was too good for her. ...Hero has a twin brother, he is the om heroine falls in love with..., after some drama, when the Hero is gravely injured by a raging bull , (it is hinted that he may never walk again and after this episode) the Mcs finally make their confessions of love for each other and all's well. The story entails many elements JSM has used before in her other stories where the setting is some hebridean island, and the main problem is to revive the deserted island ...