The Book Guild Ltd Candles and White Roses.

by Rebekah Fanning

1454. Tensions are rising between the Houses of York and Lancaster. On the brink of civil war, unease and distrust fill the air, and nobody can be trusted.

Bethany Mortimer, in search of a miracle cure for her impending blindness, leaves her manor and her bereaved father to visit the Holy Shrine at Walsingham. Feeling that she has little to lose, she breaks the bonds of familiarity and sets out on an adventure. Along the way her life is changed forever when her path crosses that of Sir William Oldhall, Richard Duke of York and their kinsman Pip Harsyck.

Surprised at a request to deliver a sealed letter to the House of the Friars Minor at Little Walsingham, Bethany believes that she is carrying news of great political importance, little does she know that what she is carrying is something of far greater significance. Something that can unravel the mysteries of her lineage and something that Queen Margaret of Anjou will stop at nothing to get.

Genres: Historical Fiction

280 pages, Paperback

Published May 28, 2024

Reviews

[Pauline Calkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The year is 1454 and tensions between York and Lancaster are high.. Bethany Mortimer of Stratford Mortimer, plagued by deteriorating eyesight, embarks on a pilgrimage to Walsingham. Her pilgrimage is apparently made under the protection of the Duke of York, and Bethany is disconcerted when she overhears remarks that she is a traitor. The author’s knowledge about pilgrimages undertaken by the upper classes during this era is evident in Bethany’s descriptions of the sacred sites she visited, such as Bury St. Edmunds. Her account of her mystical experiences, leading to a miraculous improvement in her eyesight, adds an interesting layer to the story. However, the detailed descriptions of every single meal that the pilgrims were served along the way became tedious. This journey could have been dubbed “The Duke of York’s Luxury Pilgrimage for Foodies.”
The author makes no effort to develop a plot. There is always some hint of danger, but the nature and source is not explained. At one point, a man, apparently a retainer of the Duke, suddenly appears out of the mist with a warning that there is danger ahead in Newmarket. The situation, whatever it is, becomes even more perilous so that a Yorkist knight, Pip, appears and takes charge. A specific threat from two pilgrims takes all of three paragraphs to emerge and be resolved. Indeed, the author doesn’t bother with explanations. I think two of the pilgrims disappeared without a mention midway through the journey. And at a climatic point Bethany is surprised when Roger appears. Who’s Roger? He has never been mentioned before, and it is not until the sequel, Blood and White Roses, that it is explained that she knew Roger (aka the Duke of York) because he used to visit her family.
While there are some moderately entertaining stock characters, there is no effort to develop Bethany’s character. She is passive and is protected by the Yorkist retainers. The knight, Pip, announces that things are so dangerous that he must sleep in her room. Does Bethany have any reaction to this? Is she scandalized, embarrassed? No, nothing, nada. Is she attracted to him? Again, nothing—and she ends up marrying him without ever expressing a thought about him. As a journal of Bethany’s visit to religious sites, the novel is adequate: as a story with a developed plot and characters, it fails.