Over the Hills

by Jeffery Farnol

First published 1930

Amazon

3.2(17)

Nineteen-year-old Adam Thursday, a foundling with little knowledge of his origins, is caught in the violent aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1715. Forced to masquerade as a nobleman and compelled into marriage with Barbara MacGregor, he becomes a pawn in Sir Hector MacFarlane’s scheme of revenge. His search for the truth about his birth carries the young couple through pursuit, clan loyalties and the dangers created by choosing the losing side of a rebellion.

Farnol makes Jacobitism more than picturesque background: political allegiance determines who may travel safely, who can claim property and whose identity becomes dangerous. Adam’s personal mystery is therefore inseparable from the collapse of the Stuart cause and the Hanoverian attempt to secure the kingdom. Romance, disguise and adventure are shaped by a society in which the toast to “the King over the water” can itself be evidence of treason.