JOURNEY TO ENCHANTMENT: Vol. II of the Golden Chronicles

by Patricia Veryan ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 19, 1986

Veryan's second hippity-hop adventure in mid-18th-century Scotland (Practice to Deceive, 1985, led off), and another post-Culloden batch of former supporters of Bonnie Prince Charlie seek to return treasures donated to the Cause by now-impoverished Scots. Young Prudence MacTavish, living at her kind scholarly father's estate of ""Lakepoint,"" is a firebrand Scottish patriot. These are the days when the English Duke of Cumberland is tidying up Scotland via fire and sword. Imagine, then, Prudence's rage when two Englishmen are welcomed to Lakepoint by her father. One is bewigged and fashionably lisping; the other an invalid, wounded in battle. Also clumping in from time to time is the English Colonel Cunningham, nosing about for spies. Oh, that the ""Ligun Doone"" were around! The L.D. is a kind of Scots Scarlet Pimpernel--a heroic ambusher and rescuer of beleaguered Scots. It doesn't take much cogitation on the part of the reader to spot him before the horse-and-musket action begins. Before long, Prudence is in the thick: she'll create a real-enough monster for nearby Loch Ness (both for surprise and a getaway); the good guys will hie to the hills and a hideaway; and at one point she'll flatten a man with a shovel. There's danger aplenty when Prudence arrives in hated England with her true love, who narrowly misses death in a family feud. Then, of course, there's the business of passing on a four-stanza poem which includes, in cypher, the names of those who donated treasure to Prince Charlie. All in all: love in the Highlands and a sizable amount of riding and rushing to and fro. For the series fan particularly--a loch-ful of cheerfully predictable period-adventure, told with Veryan's practiced ease and aplomb.

Pub Date: May 19, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION