Across a Wild Sea

Signet, Feb 2005, $6.50, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0451213874

The peasant girl Zarina was at the mercy of Lothian, Laird of the Serpent clan, who used and abused her. When she became pregnant, he beat her, but the infant inside remained strong. When she came close to giving birth, he gave her a knife to cut out the child. Instead, Zarina fled to the woods until her baby was born. She places her child in a boat to try to save her life. Gondin, sailing with supplies to his loved one, and is exiled for safety on the Isle of Wild Horses, brings the infant he found at sea to his beloved. She raised the child as her beloved granddaughter Alannah.

Commander Xanthier O'Bannon's ship breaks up in a storm, but he manages to reach the Isle of Wild Horses where Alannah finds him. He thinks she is cruel, refusing to even look at him, but she believes he is selfish as he has not figured out that she is blind and can "feel" her environment. When her grandmother, who feels Xanthier is Alannah's destiny, dies, she agrees to leave her home with him. As they fall in love, her heritage rises to endanger her and her beloved.

ACROSS A WILD SEA is a superb, historical, romantic fantasy that combines medieval elements with a fine adult fairy-tale-like atmosphere. The lead characters are an interesting pair, especially Alannah, a unique protagonist, who in some ways her isolation has left her pure, somewhat naive, but never twice. The exciting storyline blends the fantasy elements inside a well-written historical tale that showcases Sasha Lord's ability to provide a wild read for her fans.

Harriet Klausner