Lady of Disguise

Only the hidden treasure will allow Louisa and her sister to gain their freedom.

England, 1388: All her life, Louisa has dreamed of finding the rumored “Giant’s Treasure,” a collection of ancient, lost riches said to be hidden on a mountaintop in Scotland, guarded by a fierce monster. It’s a story her father used to tell her, and when he dies and she and her younger sister have to go live with their shiftless, greedy uncle, Louisa is determined to find that treasure. It’s the hope that has kept her defying her uncle’s efforts to marry her off to the highest bidder.

After her uncle starts to parade Louisa’s twelve-year-old sister Margaret in front of potential husbands, Louisa realizes she has no time to waste. She disguises herself as a boy and takes off for Scotland. But the road is a harsher place than she’d imagined, and she is relieved to find a friend in the knight, Sir Charles, who goes along with her on her journey.

Charles is intrigued by this young woman who claims her name is “Jack” and is set on going to Scotland. He goes along, pretending to believe she is a boy, in order to make sure nothing bad happens to her. As they meet new friends along the road, and as Louisa comes clean about her identity, the pair find themselves falling in love. But what will happen when they reach Scotland? Will they find their independence and the freedom to marry in the form of a buried treasure, or will the monster from Louisa’s own past keep the young couple apart?

A delightfully charming reimagining of “Jack and the Beanstalk” from New York Times bestselling author Melanie Dickerson.

My Review:

I adore fairy tale retellings and this is my first Jack and the Beanstalk reimagining. I’d say it’s on the lighter side at the start but an imaginative twist towards the end brought some wonderfully believable parallels to this age old tale. Very clever, Ms. Dickerson, very clever indeed. 🙂

Louisa makes the perfect damsel in distress with Charles as her knight in shining armour. She’s a spunky, imaginative heroine who is not quite ready to be let loose in the real world. Luckily Charles takes his knightly duties of guarding and protecting seriously. Friendship develops into more but, of course, there’s a quest to conquer and a villain to defeat before the hope of a happily ever after can be obtained!

Love the journey — the people they meet along the way. In true fairy tale fashion, Louisa and Charles provide assistance and encouragement and I appreciated the way the author wove the importance of prayer throughout the story.

I listened to the audio edition narrated by Jude Mason who did a marvellous job creating a fairy tale ambiance in her performance. Thoroughly enjoyed my listen.

My thanks to Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Audio and Negalley for providing me with an audio edition of Lady of Disguise.

24 thoughts on “Lady of Disguise”

    1. Melanie Dickerson has created quite the niche for herself in the Christian publishing world. I love her storytelling too. Unfortunately, this is just a plain ol’ review, not a giveaway. To distinguish between giveaways and ordinary reviews look for the ‘+ Giveaway’ added to the blog title and the giveaway details in blue and red underneath the review. This is the only non-giveaway review this week so I know it’s confusing. This is a change I made with the blog this new year.

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  3. Thank you for your review on “Lady of Disguise” by Melanie Dickerson! Sounds like a wonderful story and one I’m adding to my TBR list.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  4. Oh m y goodness, this sounds like such a wonderful story. I have not read one of her books in such a long time. Please count me in. Thanks Kav for your review. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

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    1. I’ve only read the 3rd book in this series — Veil of Winter which was a Sleepy Beauty retelling. I’ve mostly read her Haganheim series. So five to catch up on in this one. Happy Reading, Cindy!

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  6. I’ve never read a retelling of Jack & the Beanstalk either. Lady of Disguise sounds so intriguing! Melanie Dickerson is definitely the fairytale retelling master. I’m looking forward to reading her newest gem. 🙂

    Alison Boss
    nj(dot)bossman(at)gmail(dot)com

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  7. I just read the Hagenheim series and A Medieval Fairy Tales by Melanie. They were excellent. I’m looking forward to reading this one.

    psalm103and138atgmaildotcom

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    1. She’s a fantastic storyteller. This isn’t a giveaway though so hopefully you can obtain a copy from another source. My library gets all of her books. I’m not doing giveaways on every book I review this year. You’ll know a giveaway because the title of the blog post will include ‘+ Giveaway’ and there will be giveaway information following the review in blue and red print.

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  9. I love Melanie Dickerson’s books🥰 I’m not sure if you’ve read them or not, but she’s got a Regency spies trilogy that I LOVED too! If you haven’t yet, I definitely recommend checking them out!

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  11. My daughter and I really like Melanie Dickerson’s fairy tale retellings and have all of her books. I’ll be giving Lady of Disguise to her for her birthday in April. We also liked her Regency Spies books.

    pmkellogg56[at]gmail[dot]com

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