Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Here Burns My Candle
WaterBrook Press (March 16, 2010)
by
Liz Curtis Higgs

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, Marjory’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.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Here Burns My Candle, go HERE.

In her best-selling series of Bad Girls of the Bible books, workbooks, and videos, Liz Curtis Higgs breathes new life into ancient tales about the most infamous—and intriguing—women in scriptural history, from Jezebel to Mary Magdalene. Biblically sound and cutting-edge fresh, these popular titles have helped more than one million women around the world experience God's grace anew. Her best-selling historical novels, which transport the stories of Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, and Dinah to eighteenth-century Scotland, have also helped her readers view these familiar characters in a new light. And her nonfiction book, Embrace Grace, winner of a 2007 Retailers Choice Award, presents her message of hope in an engaging and personal way, speaking directly to the hearts of her readers.

A veteran speaker, Liz has presented more than 1,600 encouraging programs for audiences in all 50 states and 10 foreign countries: South Africa, Indonesia, Germany, France, England, Canada, Ecuador, Scotland, Portugal, and New Zealand. In 1995, she received the Council of Peers Award for Excellence from the National Speakers Association, becoming one of only 32 women in the world named to their CPAE-Speaker Hall of Fame.

Feature articles about Liz have appeared in more than 250 major newspapers and magazines across the country, as well as online with Salon.com, Beliefnet.com and Spirituality.com. She has also been interviewed on more than 600 radio and television stations, including guest appearances on PBS, A&E, MSNBC, NPR, TBN with Kirk Cameron, CBC Canada, BBC Radio Scotland, Rhema Broadcasting New Zealand, Radio Pulpit South Africa, LifeToday with James Robison, Focus on the Family, Janet Parshall's America, 100 Huntley Street and Midday Connection.

Liz is the author of twenty-six books, with more than three million copies in print.

Her fiction includes two contemporary novels, one novella, and four historical novels. And she has written five books for young children.
  I LOVE Liz Curtis Higgs.  I still remember the first of Liz’s books that I read – Bookends – I e-mailed her afterwards to tell her how much I enjoyed the book, especially the setting (which is a town not far from where I live).  She wrote right back, and treated me as though I were an old and treasured friend.  That impressed me!  (That was in the days long before I started doing book reviews and having interaction with various authors – so Liz is the “measuring stick” for me.)
My mother has been offering to help me review books and with all that has been going on over the past month or so, I finally decided to take her up on it.  Here Burns My Candle, by one of MY favorite authors, seemed the perfect place to start (though, I must admit, I’ve not had opportunity/time to read any of Liz’s historical fiction).  So, the remainder of this review is in my mom’s words (as best I can remember it):
“I know nothing about Scotland in the 1700’s, so I can’t say whether this book is historically accurate or not.  But, the underlying drama of the book – the struggles that the characters are facing – are timeless.  They are all things that we face and struggle with today.  The people in this book chose to put their faith and trust in the wrong leader, who ended up leading them astray. 
“I did pick up on the similarities between this and the story of Ruth & Naomi – but not til close to the end.  I enjoyed this book and would definitely consider reading more books by this author.”