I am currently only two chapters into TOMMY'S HONOR. From my limited knowledge of Scottish history from 1400 to 1900, it appears that Kevin Cook has made a strong effort to stay accurate with the historical details. He is not overly sentimental, and the characters do not seem to have any 20th or 21st century characteristics which are contradictory to behavior of the 19th century.
I know nothing about THE EDICT other than the reviews I saw on Amazon.com. However, I fear that Cupp may have been very loose with his historical details of his story.
I look forward to your review. If you are able, please try to spend a sentence or two discussing my above noted concerns.
Thank you.
Also, although only two chapters into TOMMY'S HONOR, I am thoroughly enjoying this read. I know many on this site do not like Mark Frost's books, but I do and I find a similar excitement from this read as I did from Frost's two golf books. I do think Frost's writing did read as if he was writing a screenplay, which I considered to lesson the quality of his books. Fortunately, Cook's writing style does read more like a novel than a screenplay.
The easiest way for me to explain Cook's writing is to compare it to David Halberstam's sports books. Halberstam's books read like a journalist, in that the writing is to the point and not overly flowery. But his prose is extremely excellent writing. I will not say that Cook's writing is equal to Halberstam's, but there is a similar flow in the first couple of chapters.