McKENNA'S BRIDE
Judith E. French
Ballantine Books
January 1998
ISBN: 0-345-40873-X
{Click
here to buy this book}
In her latest Historical Romance, "MCKENNA'S
BRIDE", Judith French masterfully creates a complex
story of newlyweds, Shane
and Caitlin McKenna,
separated during the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s. Shane
leaves Ireland and his wife in search of a better life in the
New World with promises to send for her as soon as he's settled.
But after 8 long years Caitlin begins to think he's dead until
his letter finally reaches her in her impoverished home in County
Clare. He is alive and wants her to come to him immediately.
When Caitlin arrives in Jefferson City, Missouri
she doesn't recognize the fair haired 19 year old boy that
she'd married. This man before her has a darkness about him.
He's rough and hardened. And his once lilting accent is now
a harsh southern drawl. And worse yet, he has a son! For Shane,
Caitlin has matured into a beautiful woman. She's delicate
but he can see her inner strength. But with babe in hand he
can't believe, even with 8 years of separation, that she's
been unfaithful to him. If this marriage was going to work
they will have to learn to trust again. And with that trust,
love.
Life is hard on the plains and Caitlin learns
to adapt quickly to life on Shane's cattle ranch, Kilronin
(named for an Island off the coast of Ireland). Her relationship
with her husband is tested time and again as she learns that
not only has he lied to her at nearly every turn, but that
there is someone out there that wants him dead. His money
has run out and the fate of Kilronin is at stake if they can't
get the cattle to market.
French throws twists and turns in on every
page pitting Shane and Caitlin against each other to save
the ranch at one moment only to have them wrapped in each
other's arms the next. Minor characters like Mary Redjacket,
Justin and Nate Bone, and the relationship between Gabriel
and Rachel, add complexity, intensity and sometimes humor
to this lively story. French blends images of Ireland with
those of the Missouri plains giving readers a rich experience
full of color and a sense of the real history of the time.
It's as if you are living the story instead of reading it.
So intense are the images that it can make you homesick for
a land you've never seen before. "MCKENNA'S BRIDE"
is fast paced from Chapter One to The End, and a story you
never want to end!
