A druid-turned-nun writes of faith, love, loss, and religion in this “beautifully written and thought-provoking book” set at the dawn of Ireland’s Christian era (Library Journal) Cloistered in a stone cell at the monastery of Saint Brigit, a sixth-century Irish nun secretly records the memories of her Pagan youth, interrupting her assigned task of transcribing Augustine and Patrick. She revisits … and Patrick. She revisits her past, piece by piece—her fiercely independent mother, whose skill with healing plants and inner strength she inherited; her druid teacher, the brusque and magnetic Giannon, who introduced her to the mysteries of the written language.
But disturbing events at the cloister keep intervening. As the monastery is rent by vague and fantastic accusations, Gwynneve’s words become the one force that can save her from annihilation.
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I loved this book! I’m always fascinated by the shift from Paganism to Christianity, and I had a tough time putting this book down. It had the feel of a true story like Memoirs of a Geisha even though it was fictional.
If you loved The Mists of Avalon, grab this book. I think you’ll enjoy it. It still haunts me years after I read it.
Not what I expected.
Written so very well and historically educational. The characters are interesting and emotionally pull you in. Enjoy.
This novel presented a new perspective on the historical transition from pagan to Christian beliefs in Ireland.
This story was a bridge between paganism and Christianity in Ireland
Not at all what I thought it would be like, but still, it draws you into the story. Definitely different.
An interestinG portrayal of what it may have been like in Ireland as Christianity began to dominate. Not something for those who believe The Church is necessarily always right.
this one was work but I finished it!
Read only if you are interested in history and early Christian/Druid themes. Strong characters. Original story. I wish I knew more about the truths and background involved.
Interesting to read about a time period that is seldom fictionalized with a woman as the main character.
A nun caught between paganism and christianity in medival times. Interesting story but not for everyone. The historical significance is clear and the main character is stronger and smarter than most around her. The nun values both ways of life and sees benefits far better than those around her.
The author obviously knows a good bit about the Celts/druids. The characters were engaging.
Turns the Irish conversion story on it’s head. You root for the pagans.
This book was difficult to read. What I got out of it came at the end. When one evaluates ones life you can see the value of your decisions.
It will definitely make you think.
Did not capture my interest.
Gives a woman’s perspective on a time and place you thought you knew about…
Life in Eire on 500 AD. I can’t say if any of the characters were followers of Christ. The story does show the beliefs of the time.
Cleverly reads like a non-fiction story.
Author Kate Horsley dresses up her novel as a codex found on an archeological dig in Ireland. It purports to be a first-person narrative of a woman trained as a druid in early 6th Century Ireland; it even includes a Translator’s Note explicating the scholarly treatment of the text. Horsley establishes this as a way of lending a present-day flavor to a long-ago text. It works really well, and at the same time the story manages to be a compelling text with human suffering, thwarted romance, power-mad clerics, and a deft treatment of how some true stories evolve into legends, embellished with magic.
Gwynneve, our wise and realistic narrator, tells her first-person story of passion, growth, and loss. This serves as a cross-section of the wrenching Irish conversion from the ancient Druidic faith to Christianity. In fact, the story by design straddles the exact period where the Christian faith takes strong root in the land, and succeeds in eradicating all traces of the old ways. But not in our Gwynneve!
This woman trains the full nine years required to become a druid, travels that path, and gains some renown. Her passion, which she discovers quite young, is for reading and writing; she burns to know what the long dead philosophers and seers and poets and clerics said and thought. This leads her to Giannon, a tall and rather unfeeling druid, from whom she finds she desires affection and partnership. He does not provide these in any gratifying amount, but he does teach her the druidic disciplines. Through a series of adventures and misadventures Gwynneve is admitted into a convent devoted to St. Brigit.
At this convent, Druid Gwynneve pursues her love of writing as a scribe, and sets the current manuscript to parchment. Before very long she runs afoul of the new Christian male hierarchy, is imprisoned and martyred. She thus personifies the dying of the old, nature-based beliefs prevalent in Ireland – she couches this often harsh transition in very human terms. In addition, there is a fine and lovely lilt to the writing, as befits something composed in English by an Irish wielder of words.
Straightforward, feeling, well-paced and lovely, there is much here to use your time well. It imagines its time and place thoroughly, much to the delight of the modern reader.