The Candlemass Road

By George MacDonald Fraser

This is a beautiful, moving tale from the bestselling author of the "Flashman Papers".

To the young Lady Margaret Dacre, raised in the rich security of Queen Elizabeth's court, the Scottish border was a land of blood and brutal violence, where raid and murder were commonplace, and her broad inheritance lay at the mercy of the outlaw riders and feuding tribes of England's last frontier. Beyond the law's protection, alone but for her house servants and an elderly priest, she could wait helpless in her lonely manor, or somehow find the means to fight the terror approaching from the northern night!

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Dec 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9780007502042

George MacDonald Fraser

The author of the famous ‘Flashman Papers’ and the ‘Private McAuslan’ stories, George MacDonald Fraser has worked on newspapers in Britain and Canada. In addition to his novels he has also written numeous films, most notably ‘The Three Musketeers’, ‘The Four Musketeers’, and the James Bond film, ‘Octopussy’. George Macdonald Fraser died in January 2008 at the age of 82.

Reviews for The Candlemass Road

[lexieconyngham · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting book. The language, which is very much of the 16th. century when the book is set, is at first a little slowing, but you quickly get used to it and the pace is fast. The plot is really an episode in Border history (border between England and Scotland), based on a few facts and expanded into fiction, written from the point of view of a foreign priest who is an outsider in a nominally Protestant border country, appalled at the violence and cruelty of the region. George MacDonald Fraser was a writer who built action and plot brilliantly, and had enough interest in history and historical accuracy to set them well.

[dekesolomon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

He saved her bacon. She done him wrong.More than a solid historical novel, The Candlemass Road is also a primer for wannabe authors of historical romance. Written by George MacDonald Fraser -- one of the best of all historical romance writers -- The Candlemass Road is meant to be closely studied by any budding fictioneer.

[neurodrew · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A brief novel about the Scottish Border reivers. It was apparently originally intended as a stage drama. The action is in the 16th century, and centers on the castle of Lord Dacre, recently murdered, but his daughter is sent from court in England to take over. In her first day she learns of an impending raid by some reivers intent on blackmail of her village, but is unable to persuade any official to help her. She finally gains the help of a freelance warrior who has been captured stealing, and forces him to help defend the village by threatening hanging. He does so, violently. Upon his return to the castle, it becomes clear that the authorities will blame him, and he must flee. The story ends abruptly there, but there is an interesting afterword on the history of the times. Acquired from "A Common Reader