Pretty Young Rebel

The Life of Flora Macdonald

By: Flora Fraser

Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron

Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents Pretty Young Rebel by Flora Fraser, read by Cathleen McCarron.

The year is 1746. The Jacobite rebellion has failed catastrophically and Scotland is reeling in the devastating aftermath of the battle of Culloden. Far to the west, on an island in the Outer Hebrides, twenty-four-year-old Flora Macdonald is woken in the dead of night by a messenger with urgent intelligence.

Bonnie Prince Charlie is outside, begging for her help.

With Flora's assistance, the Stuart prince is disguised as an Irish maid and smuggled to the Isle of Skye, evading government troops. Flora’s bravery and determination will see her immortalised in ballads and proclaimed a Scottish heroine. But her efforts also result in her capture and detention in London. Released the following year and returning to Skye, Flora goes on to marry and emigrate to North Carolina, only then to be caught up in the American Revolutionary War.

In Pretty Young Rebel, award-winning biographer Flora Fraser tells the remarkable story of Flora Macdonald. It is a tale of adventure and daring, wit and charm, struggle and survival, and of a woman who showed extraordinary courage in the face of great danger.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Flora Fraser (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Glad that's over...

Ok story... maybe it would mean more if I were from Scotland. Lady helps an ungrateful prince escape...goes on to be a folk hero...has a gaggle of kids....moves to NC....moves back to Scotland because she is a loyalist during revolutionary war. Breaks arms ..unclear exactly how except on a horse....grows old and penniless....grave site over grows for decades and Flora slowly becomes a legend. Do I have that right?

Thanks for the PDF....that cleared a few things up for me.

A Splendid Biography!

This is a splendid biography, meticulously researched and beautifully written. And what a story! Even those who have some familiarity with Flora Macdonald will thrill to hear the old story told anew, will learn new and fascinating details, and will find even more to admire about this woman of courage and sensibility. Among the challenges faced by the author were untangling fact from fiction as well as parsing through complex family relationships in the 18th century Hebridean culture (where seemingly half the characters share the same surname!). The author succeeds very well at both and thoughtfully included excellent maps, family trees and a Glossary of places and names. Readers will want these close at hand, especially early on in the book, since it is almost impossible to follow the story without them. With them, however, the tale unfolds clearly and dramatically. After Flora’s celebrated adventures in the Hebrides and the harrowing aftermath, the author follows the Macdonald family to North Carolina, explaining why this family and a number of other Highland and Island emigrants supported the Crown rather than join in yet another rebellion (their earlier one hadn’t worked out especially well). While many Scots thrived in North Carolina, for others like Flora the experience was a disaster. Outlander fans will find this book of particular interest, as it not only provides the real back story to one of the characters from Season 6 but also explains the theme song of that series – the Skye Boat Song – which was originally written to commemorate Flora’s 1746 voyage to help Bonnie Prince Charlie escape. Finally, the book recounts how Flora’s story, and especially her character, touched a chord not only in her own time but has resonated through succeeding generations to this day.

This review relates to the audio version of the book, read by award-winning narrator Cathleen McCarron, who does a masterful job. She has a crystal-clear voice with an enchanting Scottish accent -- completely intelligible to an American -- and she reads with feeling and enthusiasm, conveying the sense that she really wants to tell you this story. Audio listeners should print out the PDF and pore over the maps while listening to the story, preferably on a dark and stormy night with a wee dram from the Isles. Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing …