Thorn in my heart (1)- Rowena

I will gradually anwser all the questions in the discussion guide, or at least the ones I find interesting.

Rowena McKie. She is a sort of "mother hen", very controlling. It seems to me that in the beginning of the book, it said that she gradually, over the years, learned to love her husband, Alec, who was nearly 20 years older than her and who she had never met before getting married, but that respect for him came harder. Her controlling nature makes her like her brother, except she isn't really after money, as he is. She truely believes she is responsible for bringing about God's will, even if it means pushing her son to deceive her husband and rob his brother of the "blessing". She doesn't demonstrate any respect for him and only wants to manipulate.

She might have loved her other son, Evan, if her husband didn't favor him so much. The way each of them is rooting for one son shows that she is almost looking for strife in their relationship, although I think she is also trying to be fair to her youngest twin, who doesn't receive any love from Alec. Also, she believes in the prophety that the midwife told her: "the older shall serve the younger", believes it is from God, and she is a rather superstitious/religious woman. The mix is somewhat interesting. I liked Leana because she saw the superstitions for what they were, and her trust was more in God. She seemed to be the only character lucid enough to pick that up.

Another reason she justifies her ill treatment of Evan is his wife. If she had her way, he never would have married her. I'm wondering to what degree it's nationalism and to what degree the woman was really disagreeable.

Well, this first post was mainly filled with thoughts about Rowena, Jamie's mother (Rebecca, Jacob's mother, for those who havn't read the books). Each post will be centered around a certain theme for lisibility.