The Rose and the Thistle

In the gripping latest from Frantz (A Heart Adrift), a Catholic noblewoman fights for survival amid the Jacobite rebellion. It’s 1715, and 28-year-old Lady Blythe Hedley has been sent by her father, the Duke of Northumbria, to France where she’s safe from the anti-Catholic hostility sweeping England. Though Blythe can worship freely in France, she’s aimless and unfulfilled. But after her father finally accedes to her homesickness and summons her back to England, disaster strikes when an anti-Catholic mob storms the family castle. After escaping, Blythe flees to the Scottish estate of the earl of Wedderburn, a trusted Protestant, but upon arriving she learns the earl died that night, leaving behind his grief-stricken son, Everard Hume, to take his place. After an awkward introduction, Blythe’s struck by Everard’s “powerful presence” and “well-defined cheekbones,” and though her presence throws a wrench into the workings of the estate (which also houses the rest of Everard’s family), the two grow closer. But religious unrest brews outside the castle walls, interfering with Everard’s efforts to protect Blythe, who must herself decide whom to trust. Frantz carefully unpacks a complicated period of religious persecution, lending this romance depth, fascinating moral stakes, and a palpable sense of suspense. Readers will be hooked until the satisfying close. (Jan.)