For readers of Sara Donati and Diana Gabaldon, this epic historical romance tells of fateful love between an indentured Scotsman and a daughter of the 18th century colonial south. When captured rebel Scotsman Alex MacKinnon is granted the king's mercy--exile to the Colony of North Carolina--he's indentured to Englishman Edmund Carey as a blacksmith. Against his will Alex is drawn into the struggles of Carey's slaves--and those of his stepdaughter, Joanna Carey. A mistress with a servant's heart, Joanna is expected to wed ...
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For readers of Sara Donati and Diana Gabaldon, this epic historical romance tells of fateful love between an indentured Scotsman and a daughter of the 18th century colonial south. When captured rebel Scotsman Alex MacKinnon is granted the king's mercy--exile to the Colony of North Carolina--he's indentured to Englishman Edmund Carey as a blacksmith. Against his will Alex is drawn into the struggles of Carey's slaves--and those of his stepdaughter, Joanna Carey. A mistress with a servant's heart, Joanna is expected to wed her father's overseer, Phineas Reeves, but finds herself drawn instead to the new blacksmith. As their unlikely relationship deepens, successive tragedies strike the Careys. When blame falls unfairly upon Alex he flees to the distant mountains where he encounters Reverend Pauling, itinerate preacher and friend of the Careys, now a prisoner of the Cherokees. Haunted by his abandoning of Joanna, Alex tries to settle into life with the Cherokees, until circumstances thwart yet another attempt to forge his freedom and he's faced with the choice that's long hounded him: continue down his rebellious path or embrace the faith of a man like Pauling, whose freedom in Christ no man can steal. But the price of such mercy is total surrender, and perhaps Alex's very life.
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From the Isles of Scotland to the environs of North Carolina, Alex MacKinnon's story, filled with struggles that were to become the birth pains of a new Christian, will hold the hearts of readers. A prisoner of war, Alex was given the king's mercy and was transported to the colony of North Carolina rather than to the hangman's noose. Much would occur before Alex would see the blessing of that, and before he would accept the King's mercy.
Joanna Carey, stepdaughter of Captain Edmund Carey the owner of the Severn Plantation, had taken on the role of the plantation's mistress at the age of twelve upon the death of her mother. Perhaps having assumed the role before having been groomed to do so accounted for Joanna's unusual relationship with the plantation's servants as well as her vision for a different life for all of the plantation's residents, a plan that she wished might include Alex MacKinnon. Her father's pride in Severn and his reliance on his overseer, Phineas Reeves, appeared to obscure that vision.
Benton skillfully addresses the essentials of a life of following Christ as well as the obstacles to that life. While set in the mid 1700s, the lessons of this story are quite relevant to today. I am grateful to have received a copy of The King's Mercy from Waterbrook via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion, which is that I would highly recommend this book to historical fiction fans as well as to those who have a budding desire to follow in Christ's footsteps. I was under no obligation to provide a positive review and received no monetary compensation.