The Freemason's Daughter by Shelley Sackier

This work is highly dangerous since it counts as treason where the penalty is death. During their commissions, they travel around the area, collecting money to put James on the throne and trying to persuade people to join the movement. The group aren’t just simple stonemasons but are, however, Freemasons who are also sympathetic to the Jacobite cause.

Jenna’s father Malcolm MacDuff works in a group of stonemasons who travel around Scotland in search of work which comes in the form of commissioned buildings. The Jacobite movement’s ideology was to get George I off the throne and put James Stuart, Queen Anne’s half brother who was a Roman Catholic, on the throne instead. Due to the Act of Settlement 1701, which prohibits Catholics from ascending the British throne, George I, who is German by birth, inherited the throne over 50 other Roman Catholics who had closer relations to Queen Anne.

This story takes place after the death of Queen Anne in 1714. Shelley Sackier's first historical novel, THE FREEMASON’S DAUGHTER, follows the story of Jenna MacDuff in 18th century England as she is forced to leave her homeland of Scotland with her father and his stonemason group in order to secretly promote the Jacobite movement. Throughout the book, you’re aware that something very dangerous is about to happen but don’t know exactly what till the end of the book when the climax breaks in a flurry of conflict, confusion, and fighting for life! And in the end, you may still be wondering, now what?

She is bright, strong, precocious, curious, and all too eager to be part of the events that are about to erupt! And to complicate matters, she has discovered her newly maturing feelings for two desirable young men, both of whom care for her, but who are on opposite sides of the political factions at the edge of war. Jenna is way ahead of her time with her commitment to learning as much as she can from one of her father’s stone masons who has an extensive education to pass on to her. This book feels more like you’re watching it rather than reading it! The descriptions of the countryside, the dwellings of the time, the castle, the way of life, all become vivid images! And the storyline based on historical events in Scotland and England in the 1700’s makes the journey back in time feel alive as well as informative and entertaining.

The Freemason's Daughter by Shelley Sackier