The Bear and the Thistle — Julie Thomas

The Bear and the Thistle is the first book in the Lochmorland and Romanov saga. The eighth Duke of Lochmorland, Edward, and his Duchess, Cordelia; have two gifted daughters but are desperate to have a son. The Duke left her pregnant and went to fight in WW1, first on the Western Front and then in the sands of the Sinai. He is badly wounded in the battle for Nazareth and doesn't come home until 1919. Meanwhile Cordelia has given birth to twin boys, Eddie and Gus.In Russia a bloody revolution is unleashed in 1917. Grand Duke Alexander Petrovich Romanov and his wife, Grand Duchess Tatiana Mikhailova Romanova escape the bloodshed to the Crimea, with their two little girls, Marina and Petra. On board the HMS Marlborough Alexander wins a tense poker game and with it, a Scottish estate. One that happens to boarder Lochmorland.The Scottish Duke comes back with horrific shellshock and his family try to look after him. His eldest daughter, Arabella, almost dies of Spanish Flu and a long-time personal maid of Cordelia's sacrifices her life to nurse the girl. Through the 1930's some of the children stretch their wings in the new post-war world and the Scottish Duke flirts with fascism. Arabella is jilted when her betrothed, Lord Sebastian McGlashan, flees with her younger sister, Iona.Finally, World War II breaks out and the twins enlist in the RAF. The simmering tensions come to a head when Arabella falls in love with a Russian born Ghillie from the neighboring estate. The tragic conclusion resounds through both families and the issue of succession raises its head again.This is the first of a trilogy which traces both families from 1917 to the present day.