The Secret of the Glen

Orphaned and penniless after the death of her parents, Leona Grenville travels to the Scottish Highlands to stay with the Duke of Ardness, the widowed husband of her late mother's dearest friend, hoping to find comfort and security. On the journey her coach is wrecked in a violent storm, and she is rescued and sheltered for the night by Lord Strathcairn, a man she feels an immediate kinship with. His warmth turns to cold reserve the moment he learns her destination is the neighboring estate of his rival, the Duke. Arriving at Ardness, Leona witnesses the brutal eviction of crofters from their homes and comes to feel like a prisoner within its bleak walls, clinging to Strathcairn's whispered promise to help her. As she uncovers the cruelties and secrets of the estate, a Highland romance unfolds against a backdrop of clan rivalry, injustice and the wild beauty of the moors. In the gentle, chaste style of its prolific author, the story follows a spirited heroine through danger toward love.