Historical Fantasy
Date Published: October 23, 2015
Valentia is a privileged young woman from a wealthy farming family in 19th century Ohio. Her grandmother had been a storyteller, weaving tales of romance and adventure from her native Ireland, and told her granddaughter of a special family heirloom – a brooch that had been left behind with her family. Valentia decides that she must find her grandmother’s long-lost family, as well as the brooch. She has disturbing dreams featuring the brooch and sees strange lights whenever she looks at the drawing.
As she travels with her brother (Conor), his valet (Brendan) and her ladies’ maid (Maggie) through Pittsburgh and New York, Valentia’s eyes take in the wide world.
In Ireland, crippled by chronic illness, she learns about the Irish famine from some local activists. She becomes intrigued with the movement, and vows to help in what ways she can. She befriends Siobhan and Aiden, siblings. Siobhan shows her a stone circle, and she has a mystical experience.
When she has recovered, she travels north to Donegal. When she finally does find the town her grandmother came from, she is confronted with an imperious great-aunt (Eithne) and a rather bumbling cousin who falls in love with her.
The cousin (Donal) starts to court her, and after some time, Donal proposes to her, but she turns him down, determined to finish her quest first. The parting upsets them both.
Chasing rumors of her other great-aunt (Esme), she travels south. Valentia finally finds Esme in Kenmare, and the brooch, which has hidden powers
After finding Valentia’s power, Esme begins to succumb to her own illness. Valentia tries to heal it, but at a great cost.
Valentia had hoped to settle in Kenmare, at Esme’s house, but she is driven out and travels back to Donegal, stopping to the asylum where Donal is held, but is unable to heal him. Eithne has died, so Valentia takes over the estate, healing local people where she can, discreetly.
Review
The amount of research and dedication that has to go into Historical novels blows my mind. It takes a lot for an author to genuinely be able to transport the reader to another time. Christy Nicholas has manged to do just that.
The plot flowed smoothly and was easy to follow while being in depth enough to give me a feeling I knew these characters and what drove them to do the things they did.
The plot flowed smoothly and was easy to follow while being in depth enough to give me a feeling I knew these characters and what drove them to do the things they did.
My name is Christy Nicholas, also known as Green Dragon. I do many things, including digital art, beaded jewelry, writing and photography. In real life I'm a CPA, but having grown up with art and around me (my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother are/were all artists), it sort of infected me, as it were. I love to draw and to create things. It's more of an obsession than a hobby. I like looking up into the sky and seeing a beautiful sunset, or a fragrant blossom, a dramatic seaside. I then wish to take a picture or create a piece of jewelry to share this serenity, this joy, this beauty with others. Sometimes this sharing requires explanation – and thus I write. Combine this love of beauty with a bit of financial sense and you get an art business. I do local art and craft shows, as well as sending my art to various science fiction conventions throughout the country and abroad.
I live in Warfordsburg, PA with my husband, Jason, my cat, Spot, my dog, Dax, and two sugar gliders named Arya and Sansa.
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