Ireland 590 A.D.
A woman is found by a track, nearly dead from appalling wounds and remembers nothing. Her terror and her injuries are so great that she is given sanctuary in Mother Gobnait's unusual community of nuns, while all around her a war is being waged in which she is a pawn. The women name her Aine.
Disturbing fragments of Áine’s memory begin to surface, and in desperation she asks to remain in the safety of the community, but is it really safe for her anywhere?
It is only after events take another terrible turn that Áine is forced to discover who she really is and make life-changing choices – but will they prove to be her undoing?
A literary novel inspired by real women - complex female characters who strain against the cruel chains and crippling prejudices of a society where no woman has power. Except, perhaps, one…
Genre: FICTION / HistoricalI have sold 25,000 copies of this novel. It was ranked #4 for Amazon paid kindle rankings, #1 for Irish historical and #1 for historical suspense back in January.
A body lies bleeding and beaten beyond all recognition, in the shadow of An Dhá Chích Danann, mountains that rise out of the earth full and engorged as any woman’s paps, to provide comfort, succour and even hope.
A farmer and his son discover the body as they lumber along in their cart, the old capall that pulls it, snorting at the scent of blood. These two men are on the track that many follow to lay their prayers in the lap of the mountains, the heart of the mother goddess Anu. The two stop and the son climbs down from the cart. The father is no longer nimble enough for such a scramble among the stumpy trees, rocks and bog that mark this area. The son follows the blood that stains the rush and the golden furze flowers, and finally discovers the body partially submerged in a bog. He can tell only that it is a person and, on closer inspection, that the person lives, because a heart still beats and small breaths are expelled into the cool morning air.
The son braces himself on the firmer part of the ground. He reaches carefully and drags the body from the ditch and hoists it onto his back. Each movement elicits a deep groan of pain from the body and it echoes along the valley. The father calls out to him from the cart and the son answers with brief words of assurance. He moves forward slowly, the water from the soaked body streaming down his back. Eventually, he makes it to the cart, and with his father’s assistance, lays the body inside the cart, taking care for the lolling head and the limbs that are so obviously broken. They can see now it is a woman, but beyond that they have no clear impression about her identity or status.
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Eva Romero Lozano
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Author review: A pleasure to work with. Prompt, efficient and accurate. |
