Jesse Blackadder finally got sick of people asking if
she was related to Rowan Atkinson. She wrote The Raven's Heart, about
the real Blackadder family in 16th century Scotland.
Winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for Historical Fiction (USA 2013), the
2013 Golden Crown prize for dramatic fiction, the bronze medal for historical
fiction in the Independent Publisher Book Awards (USA 2013) and the Varuna
HarperCollins Manuscript Development Award (2010), The Raven’s Heart was
published in Australia in 2011 and internationally in 2012.
Scotland, 1561, and a
ship comes across the North Sea carrying home Mary, the young, charismatic
Queen of Scots, returning after 13 years in the French court to wrest back
control of her throne. The Blackadder family has long awaited for the Queen’s
return to bring them justice. Alison Blackadder, disguised as a boy from
childhood to protect her from the murderous clan that stole their lands, must
learn to be a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, building a web of dependence and
reward.
This sweeping,
imaginative and original tale of political intrigue, misplaced loyalty, secret
passion and implacable revenge is based on real characters and events from the reign
of Mary Queen of Scots.
FIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE SAID ON GOODREADS
“It was such a phenomenal read that it’s a book that will haunt my soul for a longtime into the future. It’s now on my list as one of the best books I read all year.” - Hook of a Book.