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Here Burns My Candle

by Liz Curtis Higgs

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3151782,380 (3.93)8
Fiction. Literature. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML:A mother who cannot face her future.
A daughter who cannot escape her past.
 
Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she honors the auld ways, even as doubts and fears stir deep within her.
Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips.
His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjoryâ??s many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her.
One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown.
A timeless story of love and betrayal, loss and redemption, flickering against the vivid backdrop of eighteenth-century Scotland, Here Burns My Candle illumines the dark side of human nature, even as hope, the brightest of tapers, lights the way home.
Includes a bonus PDF with a listener's guide, glossary, and map… (more)
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» See also 8 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 17 (next | show all)
Here Burns My Candle is the first of a two-novel series, an updated version of the Biblical story of Naomi and Ruth. Not completely updated; the story takes place during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. If you know me, you know I love historical fiction, so I did enjoy book. Knowing how the Rebellion ended, though, did put a bit of a damper on the story, as well as the fact that I'd already read the teaser for the second book. Combining those two factors meant that I knew how the book would end; I just didn't know the details that would get us there.

I also didn't like most of the main characters, which made it hard to trudge through at first. The writing is great, and the pacing is fine. It was just that I wanted to get to the stuff I didn't already know. Once I got about halfway (or thereabouts) through, I just wanted to know how things were going to unfold. That sounds like the definition of a good book to me: one you want to keep reading even when you already know how it ends.

I liked watching Elisabeth discover God. At the same time, her mother-in-law is rediscovering God. It's very sweet to watch their journey together. By the end of the book, I even liked the mother-in-law. She had become a completely different person.

Now I'm off to read the second book,[b:Mine Is the Night: A Novel|8523199|Mine Is the Night A Novel (Volume #2)|Liz Curtis Higgs|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FhuvAO8FL._SL75_.jpg|11122792], as soon as I can get my hands on it.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. ( )
  amandabeaty | Jan 4, 2024 |
56852
  WBCLIB | Jun 6, 2023 |
Liz Curtis Higgs was my introduction to Christian Historical Fiction many years ago with her first Lowland Series of a retelling in the Scottish Lowlands of the Biblical story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob's wives, and later Dinah. The time in between waiting for the next novel was torture and thus I turned to other authors to bide my time and hence my current obsession with so many authors and stories today. It seems that it has been a long time in waiting for a new novel from Liz and I was eager to grab this one up. In starting this story, a retelling in Scotland's Edinburgh of the Biblical story of Ruth and Naomi I had some preconceptions for what would happen and was shocked at how slow things seemed to transpire at first, but the story did pick up and sucked me in with it.

Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage it is her story that that of her mother-in-law Lady Marjory Kerr that the pages are brought to life. Following along as they watch from the recessed side lines of battle between King George of England and Scotland's own Bonny Prince Charlie causes quite a stir of emotions. Learning with them through their own trials as some old ways are forgotten and God makes a difference in their lives is refreshing and eye opening showing his presence in the best of moments and well as the worst.

Knowing that this story was loosely of Ruth and knowing most of the Biblical story by heart, I ended at a point surprised having expected a different part. This just went to show me that I did not know all of the story, just the last part and causes me to have a newly increased thirst to go back and read the scriptures in full to delve into the first eighteen verses which it seems I hardly know at all. With all that said, I am entirely too eager to anticipate the next installment and sequel in [b:Mine is the Night|7892131|Mine is the Night (Sequel to Here Burns My Candle)|Liz Curtis Higgs|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|11122792] to come in 2011. ( )
  cherryblossommj | May 28, 2013 |
In Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs, you are introduced to the Kerr family: dowager Lady Marjory and her sons and daughter-in-laws, Donald and Elisabeth and Andrew and Janet. The story mostly focuses on the three women and is a retelling of the first half of the Biblical story of Ruth. This retelling is set in Scotland in 1745 during the Jacobite uprising. The family is entrapped in a web of family secrets that destroy the family and bring about major changes in the lives of the characters.

Did I like this book? Yes and no. It honestly wasn’t my favorite. I did enjoy the Scottish setting, as I love books set in Scotland, and the time in history it was set in was interesting. The story line it’s self was interesting and the overall story was well written. But I did find it a bit dry and it certainly is a long-ish book. All of the characters were flawed and that felt more true-to-life than some other Christian fiction where the main character is often too good to be true. Lady Marjory is manipulative and spoils her sons. Donald is a serial adulterer and I absolutely did not like him. Elisabeth is a closeted pagan and long forgiving wife. Janet is self-involved and selfish. Andrew is spoiled. The most likeable is Elisabeth and she does prove to be the “glue” that holds things together as their lives spin out of control, but in regards to Donald, she is a doormat that he walks all over.

I love historical fiction, but honestly I did not enjoy reading this book. From the number of positive reviews, a lot of folks did, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I think Liz Curtis Higgs is a fine writer and I may try reading another of her books in the future, but I just had an awful time getting into this one.

NOTICE:
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher, WaterBrook Press. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” ( )
  Susan.McNiel.Godfrey | Aug 14, 2012 |
I received the second book in this series as a part of early reviewers and just had to read them in order so I purchased this book. It was a million times more than well worth it. I absolutely loved this book, set in Scotland in 1746. The main character is a "bonny highland lass" married to Lord Donald. The story centers around Elizabeth and her mother-in-law Marjory and their different views and actions.

I have never read a book set in this setting and I fell in love with the characters Scottish accents if you "ken" what I mean.

Now that I am deep within the second book in this series, which picks up right where the first leaves off I cannot imagine never reading this book.

I think that a truly great story is so well-written that the plot flows along, is not constantly suspenseful, nor is it predictable. Liz Curtis Higgs does this beautifully and I will be looking for more of her books to read. ( )
  Tara22 | May 13, 2011 |
Showing 1-5 of 17 (next | show all)
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Epigraph
All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.
-Saint Francis of Assisi
Dedication
For two treasured Elizabeths in my life: Elizabeth Crawford Potts, my beloved mother, who left this world too soon, and Elizabeth Sullivan McLain Higgs, my precious daughter-in-law, who brings our family such joy.

And for Bill, always and forever.
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Lady Marjory Kerr heard a frantic tapping at the bedchamber door, then her name, spoken with marked urgency.
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Fiction. Literature. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML:A mother who cannot face her future.
A daughter who cannot escape her past.
 
Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she honors the auld ways, even as doubts and fears stir deep within her.
Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips.
His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjoryâ??s many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her.
One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown.
A timeless story of love and betrayal, loss and redemption, flickering against the vivid backdrop of eighteenth-century Scotland, Here Burns My Candle illumines the dark side of human nature, even as hope, the brightest of tapers, lights the way home.
Includes a bonus PDF with a listener's guide, glossary, and map

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