My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Eagle's Mate tells the story of young Anemone who lives with her caretaker, Aunt Sally, who was born and bred a Morne of Eagle Mountain. When the leader of the Morne clan is arrested and then rescued by his son and followers, Anemone discovers a side of life that was previously unknown to her gentle, girlish ways.
At first she sympathizes with the Mornes, preferring their seeming courage and manliness over the comfortable and safe males of her acquaintance, but when she is kidnapped and taken to Eagle Mountain herself, she realizes that it had all just been a girl's romantic fancy.
Through the rest of the book you find Anemone struggling with herself to discover how she really feels about Lancer Morne, who seems better than the rest of his kin, but also desperately wishing that she could get away and back to the familiar and friendly life that she had been stolen from in the valley. When a sudden accident completely changes how she feels, she steps up to and beyond what the Mornes have always expected from one of their women and takes charge when no one else can. Through her actions the Morne clan remains almost wholly intact, and she has secured a respected place for herself on Eagle Mountain forever.
"Where shall you find the eagle's mate?
Up in the air so high;
Up in the hills where the thunderbolts wait, -
There you shall find the eagle's mate,
Up by the windy sky!"
This story was actually the very first time I have ever made a foray into the world of the lower-class romance novel, if you will. I hesitate to say just plain old romance, because I have read several romances that would be classified in that category. This book however, was a far lesser work. It was a gripping story as far as the sweet, old-fashioned language and the exciting tale, but there was no redeeming quality to this book, other than a (according to the times, 1914) sensational novel. (Sensational not meaning great, but desiring to produce a sensation, or sense of excitement)
I did enjoy the fact, however, that for a "sensational" romance, it seemed extremely clean, with only a few bad words, and absolutely no scenes that I felt uncomfortable reading.
On the whole, it is not a book that I would recommend to anyone else, although I don't plan to get rid of it, because it does have some nifty photographs from the old, silent film. I mean, it's hard to say no to a nifty book from 1914, isn't it? Unfortunately there are really no pictures to show you, although I hope to upload one soon!
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