Where The Heart Beats Strongest
(2025)(The third book in the Strathavon Saga series)
A novel by Angela Macrae Shanks
‘An undercurrent of suspicion already ran deep amongst the fencible men … like touchpaper, a spark would ignite it.’
The north-eastern Highlands, 1769. As a child, Morven MacRae witnesses a boy being taken from his mother and handed to priests in the night—a scene that haunts her, his childhood the price for land and power.
1781. Now married, Morven is a gifted healer, skilled in the use of herbs. She and Jamie strive to make a living on the land he was evicted from as an infant. To her shame, she once doubted him and must never doubt him again. But when he marches away to join the hated redcoat army amidst a swirl of rumours, leaving her pregnant and alone, she struggles to quell her fears. Jamie will fight any injustice threatening what he holds dear—that frightens her.
Morven is Jamie’s whole life. When tricked into taking the king’s shilling, he vows to return to her, yet he fears he and his fellow recruits have been betrayed. He longs to return every pressed man to his family. That feat would make his dead father proud, would be the greatest privilege of his life. But to have any hope of succeeding, must he do the unthinkable? And what might it cost him?
Set in the long shadow of Culloden and rich in historical detail, Where The Heart Beats Strongest is the third book in The Strathavon Saga. A sweeping tale of love, betrayal, sacrifice, and the power of kinship.
All three novels may be read as stand-alones.
Genre: Historical
The north-eastern Highlands, 1769. As a child, Morven MacRae witnesses a boy being taken from his mother and handed to priests in the night—a scene that haunts her, his childhood the price for land and power.
1781. Now married, Morven is a gifted healer, skilled in the use of herbs. She and Jamie strive to make a living on the land he was evicted from as an infant. To her shame, she once doubted him and must never doubt him again. But when he marches away to join the hated redcoat army amidst a swirl of rumours, leaving her pregnant and alone, she struggles to quell her fears. Jamie will fight any injustice threatening what he holds dear—that frightens her.
Morven is Jamie’s whole life. When tricked into taking the king’s shilling, he vows to return to her, yet he fears he and his fellow recruits have been betrayed. He longs to return every pressed man to his family. That feat would make his dead father proud, would be the greatest privilege of his life. But to have any hope of succeeding, must he do the unthinkable? And what might it cost him?
Set in the long shadow of Culloden and rich in historical detail, Where The Heart Beats Strongest is the third book in The Strathavon Saga. A sweeping tale of love, betrayal, sacrifice, and the power of kinship.
All three novels may be read as stand-alones.
Genre: Historical
Used availability for Angela Macrae Shanks's Where The Heart Beats Strongest