ANN OF THE WILD ROSE INN, 1774
Gr. 7-10. This is the second story in a family saga about six generations of young women who grow up at the same inn. Bridie MacKenzie (Bridie of the Wild Rose Inn) came from Scotland in 1695 to join her parents, who had founded the public house called the Wild Rose Inn in Marblehead. Now, some 80 years later, her grandniece Ann is committed to bedeviling the British by smuggling supplies past their blockade. Ann falls in love with Roger, a young Scot sailor, before she learns he is part of the hated British forces of occupation. She will earn the enmity of the town if their romance becomes known, but when he proves his love by saving her brother's life, she knows she is destined to love no other. Finally, Roger deserts ship, and he and Ann plan to leave Massachusetts to seek happiness elsewhere as Bridie did two generations earlier. The plot is contrived and the dialogue wooden, but the large audience demanding romance novels may like the story and possibly learn something about prerevolutionary America along the way.Sheilamae O'Hara