An American in Scotland
1863. American abolitionist Rose O’Sullivan did not expect to fall in love in Scotland. On a desperate mission to save her family, she poses as the widow of Southern planter Bruce McIain, hoping Bruce’s cousin, mill owner Duncan McIain, will buy the cotton she has to sell. The problem? He has to retrieve the cotton from a warehouse in Charleston, a harbor currently blockaded by the Union navy.
Duncan needs the cotton to keep his mill in operation, but his love for Rose, and his desire to keep her safe, weighs heavily on him. He accompanies Rose to the U.S. to claim the cotton. He is horrified to find that Rose’s situation, and the situation at the plantation, is much worse than she ever revealed.
Romance novels rarely tackle something as ugly as slavery, but Ranney does it with sympathy and skill. By setting the story in the South in the middle of the American Civil War, rather than at the South’s foolishly optimistic beginning or its tragic end, Ranney allows her tale substantial back story. She gives her readers much to consider in not foretelling the outcome of the war. Well done. Recommended.
