It's Irish month on the blog...all those stories from the Emerald Isle or that have Irish heroes and
heroines.
I'm starting with a great one, a keeper, from the writing team of Patricia McAllister and Fela Dawson
Scott comes a wonderful story set in 13th century Ireland. I
thoroughly enjoyed it! The novel reflects considerable research and careful
attention to historical detail of 13th century Ireland.
The story begins in 937 (prologue) on Inisdeven Island in
Eire (Ireland) as the Nordic Vikings descend on St. Gall’s priory. The only
monk remaining alive is young Donal to whom a dying Viking gives a large
Emerald that he says must find its way to a female in his line—a descendant of
the Fairy Queen Fand.
Hundreds of years later, in 1209 in England, Lady Alianor
Coventry (“Nora”) is widowed when her husband, an older knight, dies. He was a
man she greatly loved and admired who was like a father to her. King John,
tired of his pregnant wife Isabella, is pleased to learn the fetching young
heiress of Coventry is now free to be his plaything. But Nora wants to help her
people, something the king has no intention of allowing. Given a choice between
becoming the king’s leman or marrying the Norman madman Quintin de Lacy, she
chooses neither, but is nevertheless shipped off to de Lacy in Ireland. On the
way, she is abducted by the outlaw, Liam Caomhanach, the one the Irish call
“the Emerald Prince,” a man foretold by legend.
I thought the authors did an excellent job of incorporating
history and the Legend of the Emerald Prince into the story. That is so
important to me as I like real history in my historical romance. They have
created wonderful characters with a rich backstory—and some real life persons,
like King John and Queen Isabella. Both Liam and Nora are compelling—unselfish
and courageous to the end.
It’s a great tale, well told, and I recommend it for you
lovers of Irish medieval romance.
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