A Noble Cunning: The Countess and the Tower

A beautiful historical story of courage and faith

I adore a good and well-researched historical fiction novel. A Noble Cunning by Patricia Bernstein is exactly what I would want to read. She crafts beautiful characters, tension-filled action scenes, and a riveting story that holds your attention and makes you want to research the real story that inspired the tale.

The year is 1710 and Catholics are not very welcome in Scotland. The country has turned quite inhospitable towards Catholics since the kings and queens have inspired wars between people of different faiths. Bethan Glentaggart is a Catholic noblewoman so the community mostly tolerates her family. One night while her husband is away, local Protestant men ransack her house, looking for hidden priests. They assault and scare her, later causing her husband to feel he must join the fight to restore the monarchy to a Catholic Scot and remove the Protestant outsider from the throne. The rebellion is disorganized and short lived. Bethan finds herself in a difficult position when her husband is arrested for treason and thrown into the Tower of London. Can she risk everything to save him?

Bethan is one tough and cunning lady! I loved her! She is a beautifully loving mother and she cares for her people. She and Gavin, her husband, have a rich and layered love that inspires great acts of courage from both of them. Bethan is supported by several female friends who truly understand the difficulty of her position. They support her in her trials, which is one of the reasons Bethan is as successful as she is. The characters definitely make this novel feel rooted in reality.

I was deeply invested in the story. I made sure not to look up the real woman who inspired the story because I didn’t want to ruin the ending for myself. Bernstein is a phenomenal researcher. You can see the attention to detail in her description of surroundings and clothing, in the real historical people who make up her cast of characters and in the action that moves Bethan’s story to a tense conclusion. When I did finally read about the real woman, I was pleasantly surprised how much was the same between the novel and the real story.

The author says her original manuscript was much longer but she cut it for the flow of the specifics events of the novel. However, I really wish it was longer. I wanted more details about Bethan’s life prior to the events in 1710. I wanted details of her life after the ending. I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her. She was a deeply interesting, courageous and faithful woman. I did find that the religious conflicts were frustrating and rightly so. How can people claim to be faithful and then use God to wage war against others who worship differently? Bernstein shines a light upon this irony, giving readers much to ponder.

If you’re in the mood for a fantastically researched historical fiction about a unique and courageous woman of faith, then A Noble Cunning is for you!