The Flight of the Heron (Jacobite #1) — D. K. Broster

Heinemann, 1943, Vintage Hardback with removable protective plastic wrap – Historical Fiction – 280pp. Some Foxing.

Set during the 1745 Jacobite uprising under Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Flight of the Heron is the first of the Jacobite Trilogy.

At the centre of the story are the intersecting fortunes of two men, who at first glance seem almost complete opposites: Ewen Cameron, a young Highland laird in the service of the Prince, is dashing, sincere, and idealistic, while Major Keith Windham, a professional soldier in the opposing English army, is cynical, world-weary, and profoundly lonely. When a second-sighted Highlander tells Ewen that the flight of a heron will lead to five meetings with an Englishman who is fated both to do him a great service and to cause him great grief, Ewen refuses to believe it.

But as Bonnie Prince Charlie’s ill-fated campaign winds to its bitter end, the prophecy is proven true–and through many dangers and trials, Ewen and Keith find that they have one thing indisputably in common: both of them are willing to sacrifice everything for honour’s sake.

Dorothy Kathleen Broster (1877-1950) was a British novelist and short-story writer, who served as a Red Cross nurse during World War I with a voluntary Franco-American hospital. Best known for Jacobite Trilogy, featuring the dashing hero Ewen Cameron, which begins with The Flight of the Heron and continues with The Gleam in the North and The Dark Mile.