Jan Cox Speas

“Mrs. Speas tells her story with loving attention to detail and the kind of authority that could only be acquired through considerable historical research and a real feeling for her characters.  She has turned out a novel that will probably be widely read by lovers of historical romances and high adventure.” 
– Greensboro Daily News, September 24, 1954.
 
“If you weary of talk of atomic warfare, and your nerves suffer from world tension, hie you back to the dank tarns and mountain mists of Scotland in 1614, and let Jan Cox Speas tell you the roistering tale of Elspeth Lamond and her love for Alexander MacHugh.  It’s a well done first novel, and I wonder whether your fancy will play you the same trick mine did, forever placing the author’s lovely face in the heroine’s stead….There are ambushes and escapes from dungeons, moonlight raids, and single combats, dances and pipers and a Highland wedding–but you’d best wrap yourself in a tartan, for the chill Scottish mist pervades everything.”  Arthur Frederic Otis, Chicago Sunday Tribune Magazine of Books, September 1954

“Traced against the turbulence of the Scottish border in the early seventeenth century, it opens on a confusion of Campbells, MacHughs, Lamonds, MacLachlans and MacDonalds, but attains a considerable degree of clarity in its clan ramifications by the time the closing pages are reached…It’s a bit complicated along the narrative wayside, but it all comes clear at the close.”
– Henry Cavendish, NY Times September 5, 1954

“This first novel by a native of North Carolina is an excellent romance, requiring little of the reader and paying huge dividends in story value. …Here is the MacHugh’s world in which his is supreme and the beauty, danger, thrill and torment of it is well represented. Recommended.”
– Library Journal, NY City, September 1, 1954

“Gallantry and ferocity run side by side in this period novel that remains entertaining…”
– Indianapolis Star Sept 5, 1954

“If this first novel is a true measure of her ability, the literary world is due to hear considerably more of Mrs. Speas. A master of suspense and the art of attaining a reader’s interest quickly and holding it, Mrs. Speas has a bold, refreshing style…. In keeping with romantic tradition her heroes are the embodiment of rugged, handsome masculinity; her female characters luscious bits of femininity. …Intrigues, battles, pride of race and land are uncovered by Mrs. Speas in a rapid-fire account.”
– Minneapolis Tribune September 12, 1954

“All good Scots and all lovers of a good fight will find a rallying point in Bride of the MacHugh, a rousing tale of a red-haired young lady’s romantic adventures among the Highland clands. A first novelist, Jan Cox Speas tells it with the élan of a seasoned yarn-spinner.”
– Philadelphia Inquirer Oct 31, 1954