"1780, Scotland. After her nasty husband dies Greer MacAlister becomes Tam Gordon’s housekeeper and she and her deaf daughter Fen leave Edinburgh and move to his remote Highland village. Greer tries her best to fit in and make friends but they don’t like outsiders or people with an impairment like Fen, and the crofters all speak Gaelic and not English.

Here illegal whisky is made, stills are hidden everywhere and it’s smuggled out, sold and it’s very dangerous. Whisky is an everyday drink, it practically runs through Highlanders veins and they refer to it as “water of life.� The residents of Glasglen worry a newcomer like Greer could dob them into the British who occupy and patrol the area and their livelihood and stills being destroyed and menfolk locked up.

Greer and Fen have to find a way to be part of the community, to be seen as not the enemy, and are on their side. Greer’s a woman who lived in a man’s world, she certainly looked outside of the box for solutions to hers and the villager’s problems and misfortunes.

I received a copy of The Whisky Widow from NetGalley and Harlequin Australia in exchange for an honest review. Karen Brooks portrays what it was like to live in the Scottish Highlands at the time, the lairds and the British made a hard life harder. I could tell Ms Brooks knows Scotland well and did extensive research for latest historical fiction novel and it holds a special place in her heart.

An action and adventure narrative full of interesting and hilarious characters, about whisky distilling and how important it was, courage and bravery, conflict and betrayal, family and community, defiance and survival, not giving up and overcoming obstacles. Tam Gordon's my new hero and move over William Wallace!

I savoured every page of The Whisky Widow, my Mam is Sottish and I loved reading about her homeland and my heritage and how the Scots thought it was their god given right to make, drink and sell whisky and it was.

Karen Brooks latest book is a credit to her in so many ways, five stars from me and I highly recommend.
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