Aleen Malcolm

From 1603 to 1774, the MacGregors, known as the "Children of the Mist", were an outlawed clan, forced to live under assumed names and cling to the dredges of life in order to survive. For centuries the MacGregors had been at war with the Campbells, a ferocious, powerful, and elite clan who had ousted the MacGregors from their lands, effectively leading to the rogue clan's banishment.

Kat MacGregor is only twelve when her mother dies a pauper's death in Paris. Her low-life father, Gregor MacGregor, takes his family back to Scotland, where he plans to gamble and cheat his way to a new life. He enlists the help of Kat, a spitfire beauty who despises her father almost as much as she does the Campbells, and together they manage to make their way to an ancient family estate where Gregor sets his family up. His ultimate plan is the demise of Darach Campbell, the handsome and fearsome young head of Clan Campbell - Gregor plans to wager the life of Darach's estranged half-brother, Riach, against the stolen lands of Clan MacGregor. Things go terribly wrong, however, and Kat finds herself a prisoner of the dreaded Campbell's. She is determined to fight him with every carefully nurtured breath of hatred she has, while he is equally determined to force from her the whereabouts of his brother. Meanwhile, Riach is a prisoner in a once picturesque, now crumbling estate, ensonced within its filty stone walls with Kat's starving family - the ethereally beautiful, yet childlike, Macaree; the sickly Robbie, young heir to the MacGregor name; the ailing and sharp-tongued housekeeper and family friend, Aggie; and several ancient servants who are rapidly dying off.

This an absolute favorite book of mine. It is a bodice-ripper, but it also has a lot of history and I am a huge fan of Scotland, so this book naturally drew my attention. The descriptions are good and I love the Gaelic spoken throughout. There is a glossary of Gaelic and Scottish words in the back.… (meer)