Saving Grace by Julie Garwood

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

I thought Saving Grace  was a truly delightful story and a thoroughly engaging character-driven romance. I admit that, yes, it did have rather an anachronistic feel to it and that both Lady Johanna and her Laird were a little too modern in their sensibilities, but I was so drawn into the story that it really didn’t bother me.

Lady Johanna is a young English noblewoman who, at the beginning of the story, is only too relieved to discover that her older, abusive husband is dead. An heiress who lives under King John’s rule at a time of great unrest and uncertainty, she has no control over her fate and is summarily informed that she is now to be married to one of her late husband’s cronies.

While Johanna is dismayed at the prospect, she does not – cannot –rail against her fate. The disposal of her hand is at the king’s pleasure, and, as we discover later, John has his own nefarious reasons for needing Johanna married off to Baron Williams, another of his most loyal courtiers.

Fortunately, her brother, Nicholas, has other plans. Having been unable to help Johanna during her unhappy marriage, he has asked his sometime friend, Gabriel, Laird MacBain to marry her instead. In return, Gabriel will receive the Scottish lands held by her late husband; lands, which had previously belonged to the MacBains.

Gabriel has no objections. Even when Nicholas tells him that Johanna is barren, MacBain is unconcerned as he already has an heir – albeit an illegitimate one – and agrees to the marriage for the sake of the property it will bring him. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Johanna is beautiful but he is worried that she is too weak, both in body and spirit, to weather the harsh Scottish climate as well as cope with the duties involved in managing his household and holding her own amongst his warriors, workers, and dependants. All belong to two barely civil clans – the MacBains and the MacLaurins

Saving Grace is predominantly concerned with Johanna’s progression from a somewhat naïve and timid young woman, to a woman who is able to win the love and respect of her husband’s clansmen, stand up to any who threaten her and hers (and who is finally able to believe in herself), and her ability to do anything she sets her mind to.

Of course, having the love and support of a bonny, brawny Scotsman plays a large part in Johanna’s transformation. Watching her as she goes from being rather in awe of Gabriel, to being able to tease him ,and then to have him truly regard her as a helpmeet and his Saving Grace, is a wonderful thing to see.

Johanna’s journey from downtrodden wife to confident Lady is shown principally through the daily, domestic life around the castle and through the development of her relationship with Gabriel, which is by turns tender and sensual – and sometimes downright argumentative. There’s a lot of humor and genuine affection in their exchanges as they fall in love with each other slowly and quite naturally, but it’s not just Johanna who is changed by it.

Gabriel starts off as being rather a typical Highlander hero – large, gruff, violent when needs be, and prepared to do whatever he must in order to secure the safety of his clan, even the unethical. He doesn’t really need a wife but he does want Johanna’s lands and is therefore determined to cosset her by insisting at regular intervals that she should be resting, even to the point that she should stay in bed all the time! Of course, Johanna will have none of it, and sets about proving that she isn’t going to expire on the spot if she gets involved in the management of his household. But beneath Gabriel’s rough exterior beats a heart of gold ,which Johanna is fast turning to mush. He’s honorable, insightful, and takes real delight in the way his wife is blossoming into a strong and capable woman. He even likes it when she stands up to him – not that he’d ever admit it – and is prepared to listen to and take her advice on occasion which, I admit, is one of those anachronisms I mentioned before, but it nonetheless works within the context of the story.

It’s not long before Gabriel is head-over-heels in love with his wife although, being a bloke, it takes him longer to say so! But Johanna knows, and is content to bide her time and wait for him to tell her until English politics intrude upon them, and threaten to separate them for ever.

This is a beautifully told story about a woman finding her true self; about two seemingly mismatched people falling in love and becoming stronger together than they ever could be individually. It’s warm, tender, and funny, and I fell in love with all the characters, even Keith and Callum, Gabriel’s second-in-commands – one from each clan. They were so keen to preserve the rights of each clan, right down to making sure that Johanna wore the correct plaid on alternate days!

Rosalyn Landor does her usual, stellar job with a large cast of characters of varying ages. Her Scottish accents are consistent and believable and she even manages to add some regional variation to them, which helps especially to differentiate between characters of the same sex. The different tones and accents she chose to use for the female characters all worked very well, although she was slightly less successful with the men. That’s not to say they weren’t differentiated – they were – but there were times when I couldn’t quite work out if I was listening to Callum or Keith in some of the more dialogue-heavy scenes when each of those characters was on his own. When they were together, it wasn’t a problem working out which of them (or of the other male retainers) was speaking, so it’s possible the fault was with my ears rather than with Ms. Landor’s performance.

In terms of her interpretation of the hero and heroine, I really liked the way she voiced them both. Rather than attempting a big, braw voice and thick accent to go with Gabriel, the big, braw Highlander, his accent was tempered and his tone quite soft for the most part, although she let rip when he needed to yell or get worked up. Johanna sounded very much as I’d expected she would – softly spoken, but never weedy or frail; there was a sense of underlying vulnerability but always a hint of backbone in her tone.

Ms. Landor’s narration is, as ever, beautifully nuanced and mellifluous, her pacing is excellent, and she has a deft touch with the humor that is present in much of the dialogue.

Saving Grace was a real pleasure from start to finish, and I’ll certainly be adding it to my “relisten sooner-rather-than-later” pile.

Caz

Narration:  A

Book Content:  A

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in, but fairly tame

Violence:  Minimal

Genre:  Historical Romance

Publisher:  Brilliance Audio

Saving Grace was provided to AudioGals for review by Brilliance Audio.