Set in Scotland during the time of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, A Year and Day features Englishman Lynx de Warenne and Celtic heroine Jane Leslie. Lynx is a powerful yet cynical knight who is delighted to lay claim to Scotland's Dumfries Castle as commanded by the king. In Dumfries, Lynx enjoys his steward, Jock Leslie, and Leslie's enormous family of 10 children and 31 grandchildren. Lynx, at age 30, is desperate for an heir and proposes that he marry the youngest Leslie daughter, despite that she is a commoner and has no interest in marriage. Lynx believes that the Leslies are so fertile that he is willing to marry beneath himself just for the sake of a child. Jane Leslie, a proud Celtic healer, is a sensitive creature who communes with wild animals and paints lodestones. Although Jane has strong wishes to the contrary, the two engage in a handfast: they will be together as husband and wife for a year and day; after that time, they will be able to choose whether to stay together. The love affair that ensues is tempestuous and passionate and pure Virginia Henley!
Reviews:
Linda (USA: NC) (2007/06/29): When Lynx de Warenne, Edward Plantagenet's most prized warrior, invaded Dumfries castle, he took possession of Jane Leslie's home--and soon wanted something more from the headstrong lass. Desperate for an heir, he proposed a handfasting: a Scottish custom whereby a man can take a woman into his bed, then, after a year and a day, the couple can either wed or part. any child of that union is deemed legitimate. Jane had no choice but to surrender to the invader's knowing touch....
Fearless on the battlefield, Lynx was afraid to love. But Jane slowly stole into his heart. And as the fires of war raged around them, amid treacherous foes and brilliant intrigues, who would have thought that two such unlikely partners would fall in love--or that their breathless passion for each other would outlast . . . .
