He stole her locket … she stole his heart. Central Highlands of Victoria, 1861
Jack the Devil’s reputation precedes him. The most notorious bushranger on the Central Highlands, nothing throws him off his game … until he holds up Prudence Stanforth and her grandmother. Jack can’t help but be captivated by the feisty Pru, with her sweeping red hair and complete lack of fear.
Weeks later, Pru … hair and complete lack of fear.
Weeks later, Pru crosses paths with the respectable businessman Jack Fairweather, and it’s not long before she recognises him as the bushranger who stole her beloved necklace. His price for the locket’s return is her silence … and a kiss. A kiss that sparks something inside them both.
When Pru discovers her grandmother has been keeping a devastating secret, running away with Jack the Devil is the perfect escape for her broken heart. The dangerous nature of his less-than-salubrious occupation is a poetic contradiction to her sheltered upbringing and only fuels their passion. Until that danger becomes a reality. Between the return of dark elements from Jack’s past and authorities intent on his capture, Jack and Pru must fight for their future together … or risk losing everything.
A rollicking historical tale about following your heart, finding home in unexpected places – and bushrangers – for readers of Darry Fraser and Alison Stuart.
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This book is set in the colonial days of Australia in Ballarat Victoria, it is a fabulous page turner, exciting, filled with witty banter and a beautiful romance between Jack the Devil, bushranger and the lovely Prudence Stanforth newly arrived from England, as Jack holds up Pru’s carriage a connection is made that will see them forge a future.
Pru has come to live in Australia with her grandmother, as granddaughter to an Earl she has been bought up with all of the luxuries that a lady could want, but Pru needs more she loves the thought of adventure. She loses a special locket in the holdup that has a lot of meaning to her, and when she meets respectable businessman Jack Fairweather at a race meeting she recognizes him and a kiss for her locket opens up a whole new world for Pru of adventure and love when she runs from her family and into the arms of Jack.
Jack has two lives one as bushranger and one a respectable businessman, he came to Australia for the gold rush but found his living holding up carriages he is known as the gentleman bushranger, and has no intention of ever having a wife, but when he meets the lovely Prudence on a heist he is smitten good and proper, and when he finds her riding through the bush very upset he takes her home, and a marriage is arranged and quickly, he has totally lost his heart to this beautiful feisty and adventurous woman.
I loved the setting for this story I always enjoy our colonial days and MS Adnams’s has bought the era to life with her fabulous descriptions of the time, but she has also had me falling for the cheeky gentleman bushranger Jack he truly is a lovable character even if he is on the wrong side of the law he was the perfect hero for Pru, her grandmother had never been able to take away that need for adventure from her and Jack was the man to give her that and the love that would bring joy and happiness. This is a fast paced story with all of the feels that a fabulous romance should have, I do highly recommend this one.
Love a good Australian historical fiction. This one was set really close to home for me, I recognised all the towns.
Pru and Jack were an unlikely couple and yet it worked so well. His bushranger ways were about the thrill not the violence. Would fatherhood change his ways?
There were a few twists and turns in here and a shocking secret.
I thought it was an entertaining read and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Bushranger’s Wife by Cheryl Adnams is an exciting tale of an unlikely love story between a young woman of English nobility visiting Australia and the highwayman who robbed her coach when she first arrived. Prudence was a young woman of twenty who had grown up in the care of her grandparents, the Earl and Countess of Carrington. They were in Australia as the guest of her uncle and his wife, who had made quite a success of their lives there. Jack the Devil was and accomplished bushranger who led a crew of three with specific rules: no killing. This fact made him unique amongst his ilk. He stole, amongst other valuables, Prudence’s locket, her only remembrance of her dead mother. It was not a valuable piece, but he could not bear to part with it, keeping it in his pocket as kind of a talisman. He only consolation, keeping her from abject loneliness, was her friendship with Brock, the groomsman and her horse, Misha. Things started to go south when she recognized him when her uncle and grandmother finally let her accompany them to the horse races. Odd that he’d led this life for years and she was the one to finally recognize him!
The Bushranger’s Wife was a wonderful novel full of twists and turns and interesting situations unheard of in most romance novels. Prudence was young, but determined to live a life of adventure not one married to a married member of the local nobility. She is a terrific character, written with loving care. Jack is everyone’s hero, doing the right thing at every turn and loving his wife, the one he had intended never to have. He is definitely a knight-in-shining-armor despite the fact the armor loses its gloss occasionally. Characters and plot are the making of this lovely novel, so different than most of its genre. The conclusion is foregone, the journey is not and it is clever and unexpected. I loved reading this book and highly recommend it as different in setting, clever in plotline, and refreshing in character development.
I received a free ARC of The Bushranger’s Wife. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #thebushrangerswife
I enjoyed reading this tale. This book is a fictional drama set in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia in 1861. It’s really about opposites that attract. A tale that has been told many times, but the author gives us a varied spin on the tale that makes it an interesting read.
Jack the Devil and Prudence meet when he robs her coach. Jack is nothing but an uncouth criminal and Prudence is a fined woman of stature. Two people on opposite sides of society.
As the story unfolds we learn the depths of Jack’s character. That he’s really a sensitive and loving person looking for a better life. We discover that Prudence is a strong woman, she knows her role in society, but refuses to fall into its confinement. She desperately craves freedom and independence.
Are they really that different?
Already frustrated at her grandmother’s attempts to marry her off to a proper gentleman worthy of her stature, Prue doesn’t waste any time running off when further family secrets are revealed. The sting of betrayal runs deep and forgiveness not so easy to give. Prudence runs straight into the arms of Jack the Devil.
Believing that they can give each other the life they are really looking for, they marry. Together these two are steamy!
“Sweet Jesus, she was a wildfire, hot and bright and out of control.”
But Prudence soon discovers
“All she’d found after only a few weeks of wedded bliss were shackles of a different kind.”
Prudence questions her decisions and their love. Unfortunately, fate isn’t done with them yet and throws many obstacles in their path. These two will discover what true love is. They will have to decide if they will fight to keep that love and worse yet, will fate let them have it?
An interesting read for sure. But I have to admit I had hoped Prudence would turn Jack around, but instead she joined in his adventures and was proud of herself for helping him steal from people. Like an old fashioned Bonnie and Clyde story, but missing the parts that made me love and route for them. Overlook those parts you and you will get an entertaining read.
I read an ARC of this book. My fair and honest review is voluntary.
Charming, different and unusual would be some pretty good ways to describe this book.
This book also had interesting main characters in unusual circumstances. Jack and Pru couldn’t be more different than if they had tried. One thing they did have in common was the desire for adventure. Oh, and of course their mutual attraction. And what a way for them to first meet.
The secret that Pru’s grandmother has kept from her is a cruel one. And is quite the surprise for Pru and quite the plot twist for me, the reader.
As gentle as Pru could be, she could also be fierce, determined and clever. Of course, that’s not counting some of the STUPID things that she did. Some of those had me shaking my head.
Jack came up the hard way learning to be a thief as a teenager to survive. When he held up people he was also especially charming and non-violent. That last part is especially important to the story.
There are a few good secondary people; like Bobby and Katie add to the story.
Things hit the fan in an unexpected way as does the conclusion of the story.
“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own