A Sanctuary Of Secrets

‘Highland Sanctuary’ by Jennifer Hudson Taylor is a Christian historical fiction that takes place in Scotland 1477. This book takes place after ‘Highland Blessings’, which is Akira’s story. You don’t have to read the first book, but the story does refer back to the other book a little since Gavin is Akira’s older brother. I reviewed Highland Blessings under the title ‘Kidnapped On Her Wedding Day’.

The story starts out 1457, when Evelina Broderwick gives birth to a baby girl that she names Serena. Not only is her husband, Devlin, upset that she gave him a girl instead of a boy, but he believes that the girl is possessed by demons when she has a seizure. Now you have to remember that in those days, most people didn’t know about seizures. And many of them are so superstitious that anything wrong with a person was seen to be demon possessed or a curse on someone. Devlin wants to kill baby Serena, but Evelina and the wet nurse Gunna take the baby and go into hiding.

Gavin MacKenzie and his younger brother Leith are on their way to Braigh Castle. They and several other men from their clan have been hired by the laird, Iain MacBraigh, to help restore the castle. On the road they come across an older woman named Evelina Boyd and her daughter Serena, who has suffered a fall off their wagon. (You can guess that she had another seizure.) Gavin helps an unconscious Serena and her mother back to the Village of Braigh, also called the Village of Outcasts.

It’s called the Village of Outcasts because of its inhabitants. There’s a deaf man, a giant, a dwarf, a blind girl and many more people who would be outcasts in that superstitious era. All of the villagers know about Serena’s seizures, or fits as they call them, which is why she, Evelina, and Gunna have been accepted as villagers and not run out of town.

Laird Iain MacBraigh is a nice man who has given sanctuary to the villagers and has allowed them to live there in peace, instead of being run off his lands. He even hired Serena to help manage his castle, since he has no wife. He doesn’t know about Serena’s fits, and Serena fears that if he knew, then he would believe that she was demon possessed like her father. Serena lives in fear every day that someone in the castle or in the nearby town of Braighwick will find out about her fits.

Her father has been looking for his wayward wife and possessed child, ever since they disappeared from his home so long ago. What will he do to Serena if he finds her? What will he do to Evelina? Will Gavin still love her when he finds out about her fits?

This story has a wonderful romance, but one filled with secrets. There is also an unexpected end that will keep you turning pages as fast as you can read! This story comes in book and e-book formats.