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The Druids and the struggles they faced.
The Druids of this chronicle are imagined as the remnants of a cult that had once been among the most influential in Iron-age Britain. Like their ancestors, they are practitioners of a polytheistic religion focused on a supreme mother goddess that they view as being the ruler of a vast pantheon of deities to whom She has given birth. Committed to carrying on what they hold to be sacred traditions, they are currently sequestered in a hidden valley where they continue to tell their ancient sagas and conduct their arcane rites supported by servants and laborers who have remained loyal to them and faithful to the goddess they worship. It is with this ongoing support, along with continued tribute from covert believers living outside of their valley, that they have been able to keep alive beliefs and practices that otherwise would have been lost.
Now, however, they are faced with escalating challenges as their own numbers and the numbers of their supporters, both inside and outside of their valley sanctuary, fall. As vital as the supplies their workers provide are to the shrine, its priests and priestesses can survive on less than they’ve become accustomed to, cutting portions of bread smaller, watering their wine, and having their cook add more turnips to her stew, but the purpose of their lives is not merely to survive but to pass on what was passed down to them.
In the days when their cult was in its ascendency, would-be disciples had flocked to their original shrine eager to sit at the feet of their three highest priests—their chief bard, their master oracle, and their foremost physician. Aware that they are the last of their kind, they face the fact that they have only their own off-spring to train in those three prized fields, which taken together, comprise an ancient heritage of wisdom that, once lost, can never be recovered.
Faced with the reduction
of the number of new initiates by declining births and the losses of young children
to illness, there is a growing conflict among the shrine’s three ranking
priests over which of them will claim the best of the small number of young
priests-in-training for his disciple—a rivalry that threatens to divide their
fellowship just when the unexpected death of their supreme priestess leaves
them without a designated successor to take her place. Along with these
challenges and the ever-looming threat of their hidden valley being discovered
by their Christian Saxon enemies, the Druids must also make decisions about how
to respond to the growing discontentment among the laborers who had previously
been willing to supply the shrine’s needs without complaint.
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| About the Book |
When the last of members of a secretive Druid cult are forced to abandon their hidden sanctuary, they send the youngest of their remaining priests in search of Annwr, their chief priestess’s sister, who was abducted by a Saxon war band fifteen years ago. With only a rudimentary grasp of English and the ambiguous guidance of an oracle’s prophecy, Caelym manages to find Annwr living in a hut on the grounds of a Christian convent.
Annwr has spent her years of captivity caring for the timid Aleswina, an orphaned Saxon princess who was consigned to the cloistered convent by her cousin, King Gilberth, after he assumed her father’s throne. Just as Caelym and Annwr are about leave together, Aleswina learns that Gilberth, a tyrant known for his cruelty and vicious temper, means to take her out of the convent and marry her. Terrified, she flees with the two Druids—beginning a heart-pounding adventure that unfolds in ways none of them could have anticipated.
Praise:
“Linden's well-researched
tale eloquently brings to life a lesser-known period of transition in Britain.
. . . The author has created a strong foundation for her series with
well-developed characters whom readers can embrace. . . . [a] layered, gripping
historical fiction.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“The story rolls along at a
lively pace, rich with details of the times and a wide cast of characters.
[The] plotting, shifting points of view of the three engaging protagonists, and
evocative writing style make The Oath a pleasure to read. Highly recommended.”
—Historical Novel Review
“Linden uses a fairy
tale-like style almost as though this story has been passed down orally over
the centuries.”
—Booklist Review
Trigger Warnings:
Sexual assault, child abuse
Buy Links:
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oath-Druid-Chronicles-Book-One-ebook/dp/B08F2JGG56
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Oath-Druid-Chronicles-Book-One/dp/1647421144
Amazon CA:
https://www.amazon.ca/Oath-Druid-Chronicles-Book-One-ebook/dp/B08F2JGG56
Amazon AU:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Oath-Druid-Chronicles-Book-One-ebook/dp/B08F2JGG56
Barnes and Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-oath-am-linden/1137420415
Waterstones:
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-oath/a-m-linden/9781647421144
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=the+oath+druid+chronicles+book+1
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-oath/id1525843259
About the Author
Ann Margaret Linden was born in Seattle, Washington, but grew up on the east coast of the United States before returning to the Pacific Northwest as a young adult. She has undergraduate degrees in anthropology and in nursing and a master’s degree as a nurse practitioner. After working in a variety of acute care and community health settings, she took a position in a program for children with special health care needs where her responsibilities included writing clinical reports, parent educational materials, provider newsletters, grant submissions and other program related materials. The Druid Chronicles began as a somewhat whimsical decision to write something for fun and ended up becoming a lengthy journey that involved Linden taking adult education creative writing courses, researching early British history, and traveling to England, Scotland, and Wales. Retired from nursing, she lives with her husband and their cat and dog in the northwest corner of Washington State.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://druidchronicles788ad.com/index.html
Amazon Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B08YTL5XT5
Goodreads:
Twitter Handle: @shewritespress @maryanneyarde
Instagram Handles: @shewritespress @coffeepotbookclub
Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #Medieval #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub
Tour Schedule Page:
https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2022/04/blog-tour-oath-druid-chronicles-book.html
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Website: https://helenhollick.net/
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