Mysterious Druids

by Kerry Adrienne

   Anya’s wish for a normal date—away from the old man she is caretaker for—comes true in unexpected ways when she finds herself whisked to an ancient Irish stone circle on solstice eve. 

   Carrick’s decision to follow the path to become an Ovate druid has not come lightly, and he plans to spend the solstice eve in meditation unless fairies or evil spirits disrupt the circle. When a feisty girl walks right up to the fire, more than sparks fly. 

   They each seek healing and a connection, but the darkness of summer is short, and once the solstice sun breaks through the circle at dawn, the magic of the night will be over. Even Madame Eve can’t stop the day from rising.

My second 1NS in the All Mine series releases this week is Druid, Mine, a time travel that takes place in ancient Ireland when Druids thrived. Much of our knowledge about these Druids is sketchy. There are plenty of different opinions on how the Druids lived, worked, and communed with nature. To write about the ancient Druid, I had to take some of the current scholarly research plus the writings from classical times and just go with it.

When I started writing, I didn’t really know about the different classes of Druids. An Ovate is a healer, herbalist, and diviner. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Ovates were time travelers! They were believed to be able to communicate with the ancestors both in the past and future (as past, future, and present are merged where the ancestors exist).

I wanted to bring in some elements of Druid life—the solstice fire, the herbs, the ritualism—without bringing in too much history.

I also wanted to bring in a bit of fairy lore. Aine (her name meaning brightness) is the queen of the fairies—and summer is her time of splendor. Her greatest feast day is summer solstice and she is known to be a helper to men. Another fairy/goddess in the story is Danu. She is a water goddess (the river Danube is named after her).

The hero, Carrick, in Druid, Mine is an initiate Ovate—and he is struggling with whether it is his true path. At the time, Ireland was besieged with skirmishes and violence, and he has lost his entire family to the bloodshed. Anya is likewise lost—working as a caretaker to an older man and having no real life of her own. She lives in modern times in the mountains of North Carolina (the mountains of NC have a rich Scotch-Irish heritage). To bring Carrick and Anya together, Madame Eve enlists the help of Danu. When Carrick and Anya meet, he believes she is Aine, the fairy queen.

I just love writing time travel stories—I get to oblige my love of history and research while also writing about love. A third book in the All Mine series will release in the fall—Pharaoh, Mine. The first book in the series, Senator, Mine, is already available.

I’ll be giving away a copy of Druid, Mine to one person who comments on this blog. What place and time in history is your favorite to read and or write about?

I’d love for you to follow me on Twitter: @kerryadrienne