Historically interesting 1590 on the Scottish marsh borderlands. The author did a wonderful job of explaining the details of some of the daily activities. The main character The Black Bastard- was a fair, hardened man with 4 dead wives and 7 children, and after a robbery no way to provide for them. He is a difficult man, who must control his men and not show weakness. Fortune shines upon his family when an 'Englisher' women washes ashore. She looks to be from a wealthy family and he will use her for ransom. One problem, she is the most stubborn women, she willna speak, nor give her name.
The adventure that the two have is a viscous battle of wills. She thinks the Scots are barbarians, he thinks the English are evil. The war begins. Life happens they start to view the other as perhaps decent. Things go very bad, then they get worse, then everything is blown by a revelation that may be the end.
A good entertaining read. ( )