The Guardian: A Tale of Scottish Independence
This is the latest installment in Whyte’s Scottish Independence saga. It is told through the eyes of the engaging Father Jamie Wallace, cousin to William, who, on the orders of Bishop Wisehart of Glasgow, is key in building the alliance between Wallace and Andrew Murray, heir to the Lords of Petty and Bothwell. The entire novel happens in a short span of months in 1297. Wallace is primed for action following his successful attack on the garrison in Lanark and Murray. He has recently escaped from England, returning to Scotland to regain his lands and legacy (both in defiance of Edward Plantagenet of England, the self-proclaimed Hammer of the Scots), determined to succeed in unifying a divided country and achieving the independence of their beloved homeland, Scotland.
Informative and engrossing, Whyte’s narrative creates a compelling, fact-based read filled with action, politics and personality, stamping each historical person with character and flaws. Wallace and Murray (who unfortunately doesn’t appear until almost one-third of the way through the novel) are presented as equally passionate, stubborn and dangerous, very much men of their time. While the conclusion (The Battle of Stirling Bridge) seems curt, the novel is anything but — it is a substantial, absorbing tale largely due to the character of Jamie Wallace. It is through him that the pace of the novel flows into a realistic account of the best kind of historical fiction.
