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Here Burns My Candle: A Novel |  | Author: Liz Curtis Higgs
Publisher: WaterBrook Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
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Seller: BOOKS4ALL
Rating:  118 reviews
Sales Rank: 22000
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1St Edition
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 4.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 1400070015
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781400070015
Publication Date: March 16, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A mother who cannot face her future.
A daughter who cannot escape her past.
Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she honors the auld ways, even as doubts and fears stir deep within her.
Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips.
His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjory’s many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her.
One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown.
A timeless story of love and betrayal, loss and redemption, flickering against the vivid backdrop of eighteenth-century Scotland, Here Burns My Candle illumines the dark side of human nature, even as hope, the brightest of tapers, lights the way home.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 118
 One of the few Christian romances thoroughly worth reading July 21, 2010
Gabrielle
Here Burns My Candle was a wonderful mix of characters, places, dresses, action and faith. Liz Curtis Higgs is definitely one of the better Christian romance authors. She develops her characters very well and one can't help but fall in love with them despite, or perhaps because of their flaws. I'm not going to lie...I cried a little while reading this book. Mrs Higgs, unlike most Christian romance authors, has succeeded in making her faith the centre of Here Burns My Candle without it feeling 'tacked on'. She has a fantastic knowledge of the land and the period she is dealing with. Although the story does move along slowly, I did not have a problem with that--it was nice to sit down and feel like I had gotten to know the characters rather than simply skimmed the top of them. (Beware-if you like fast, physical action packed stories, this probably isn't for you.) If you love historical detail and romance without sappyness, you will enjoy this book. I'm waiting for the sequel...
 Couldn't put it down July 18, 2010
Jodi (California)
My favorite fiction is historical and this author is very good at it. Not only does she have a wonderful way of making history come alive (without being boring) but she has a splendid way of developing her characters. This is a Christian writer that would appeal to all religions (or the not religious) It is just a very good historical read that happened to get it's outline from the book of Ruth in the Old Testament. For those of us who are fans of Liz, this book will not disappoint. For those historical fiction fans who have never read her books, start here, and be in for a treat!
 Disconcerted with the easy-going forgiveness of a serial cheater July 13, 2010
axid (USA)
This is the first Liz Curtis Higgs novel I've ever read and enjoyed it. However, the sore thumb in this novel was the easy forgiving of a serial philanderer (I'm amazed he didn't bring home a disease). Lord Donald cheated upon his wife almost compulsively and yet he only had to ask for forgiveness a couple of times and Elisabeth forgave him (she was a doormat when it came to him). She even was passive about it when she found out that Peg left their estate because Donald gave her the creeps the same way her mom's new husband did with her while she was growing up. I know this book is about forgiveness, but I don't think she should have let him off the hook so easily and he should have had to pay for the consequences a little bit more (he had sex with almost every widow and servant in town). Even after he promised to be a faithful husband, he cheated. How contrite was he really? He did not seem sincere in seeking forgiveness. This character had no redeeming qualities for me. No, I don't expect characters to be faultless, but the only reason he went into military service was guilt. He did ultimately pay with his life, but it wasn't to do right by his wife and he drug his brother into it. This woman couldn't walk through town without wondering if her husband bedded any of the women she passed.
I did feel for Elisabeth suffering with a haughty mother-in-law (Marjory) and sister-in-law (Janet) and still dealing with them with grace and class. She became the rock the family needed when times became tough, but while she was so strong and tough in many ways, she was a complete doormat with Donald (as I said--sore thumb in this novel). I know this is based on the book of Ruth and Boaz was a man of strong character so my hope is that whomever she winds up with in the second novel is not a loser of a cad like Donald. This poor woman deserves so much better. I would have had no problem with her forgiving if he had shown he was truly sorry and wanted to make it up to her. Going to war was about him and not Elisabeth.
Speaks to the Heart July 12, 2010
lostinavalon
I don't think I've ever taken as long to finish a novel since Mrs. Higgs' Thorn In My Heart series 5 years ago (and I've read hundreds of books in the last 5 years!). Since the day I received Candle, I have picked it up two or three times a day to read...but I can only get through a few pages at a time before I've got to put it away, take a deep breath and put it out of my mind so I can be the mom and wife I need to be. I have been overwhelmed with the emotions it has brought to the surface---it has definitely been a bittersweet experience! While the parallels to the Ruth and Naomi story are evident and powerful, causing the married reader to contemplate with purpose the state of her own relationship with her in-laws, it's the second story line regarding the unfaithfulness of a spouse that is most gripping to me.
I think a lot of us Christians are scared to admit that we or a spouse has been unfaithful. It can be difficult to know how to respond when we find that our spouse has been living a life of adultery. God tells us to forgive, to stay, to rebuild; others tell us we are well within our rights to leave. Everything hurts so bad and the last thing we want to be is vulnerable.
Mrs. Higgs gives the hurt spouse an excellent example to follow in the character of the story's heroine. Rather than being a doormat and a weakling, as some would describe a woman who remains with an unfaithful husband, she embodies true forgiveness and faithfulness. A woman does not always have to leave her husband and "show him who's boss" in this situation; the hurt character in Candle comes across as one of the strongest and most Godly examples I've seen.
I hope that other readers will come away with the same renewed character that I have. This story brings hope to those who've been hurt and reminds us that none of us is innocent of sin---all of us have fallen short. If God can forgive us from the thousands of sins we'll commit in our lifetime then shouldn't we attempt to do the same for those we love?
Faithful Love July 6, 2010
Phee Paradise
The second half of Here Burns My Candle is full of suspense and unexpected heartbreak. Through it, two women, Elisabeth and her mother-in-law, Marjorie, learn to trust God and love each other. God speaks to them through His word, then patiently waits for them to respond in the midst of trials.
Unfortunately the reader has to be patient too, because the first half of the book moves very slowly. Higgs creates a real picture of 16th century Edinburgh in the midst of the Jacobite rebellion. We meet Marjorie, who loves only her sons and her gold, and Elisabeth, who is having a crisis of faith. We also meet Marjorie's sons and her other daughter-in-law, all of whom have their own issues. But they are very interesting people leading very boring lives. Even when the sons join the Jacobite campaign, we are left behind, watching Marjorie still hoarding her gold and Elisabeth still questioning her faith. The only suspense I felt was wondering what would happen when Bonnie Prince Charlie lost his attempt to win the British throne for his exiled father.
In fact, the real story starts when the Prince's campaign heats up. From that point, the two protagonists face one trial after another. Many of them are personal, but the climax of the story hinges on Charlie's defeat. The growth of the two women through the unexpected plot twists produces a heart wrenching story.
My favorite part of the book was when I realized that it is the retelling of a well loved Bible story. I'm a little dense and didn't get it until almost the end. I'm sure you will recognize it much sooner than I did. Here Burns My Candle, is in fact, just the beginning of the story, so look for the next book which will tell the more familiar part of it.
Pros: Very well written story of God's patience and provision. The historical world of Edinburgh and the Jacobite rebellion are absorbing and you'll identify with the characters' flaws and strengths.
Cons: The book has a very slow start.
The original review was published on Pix-N-Pens ([...])
Showing reviews 1-5 of 118
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