Two Crowns for America

Blending historical detail and supernatural fantasy, as in her Deryni series and Lammas Night, Kurtz depicts a believable alternate American Revolution driven by the occult machinations of an age-old Master as well as destiny and Masonic solidarity. Kurtz, however, rightly emphasizes the more human characters, likable and three-dimensional in their political and personal struggles as she fleshes out historical figures from George Washington and Benjamin Franklin to the exiled Jacobites who want Prince Charles (Bonnie Prince Charlie of the Stuart dynasty) to assume a throne in America. The Wallace family--Jacobite Andrew; his son Simon; Simon's wife, Arabella; and Arabella's brother, Justin Carmichael--provide viewpoints for most of the important action. Sometimes detail threatens the story (descriptions of costume or Freemason ritual, or exposition of the Revolutionary War's battles), but the blend is usually seamless and well proportioned. Readers are also left with some provocative questions about our national values. (Jan.)