Dee Morrison Meaney

Quite a sweet, gentle little book. Branwen is a daughter of a Saxon theyn (more usually spelled thane) in 1011 AD, a time when England is not a united country due to a weak king, Ethelred the Unraed (Unready as we would say) and the repeated invasions of Vikings from Denmark and Norway. She learns to become a healer in the course of the story, but also has uncanny powers due to the heritage of her Celtic grandmother, who was a priestess of the Goddess. The worship of the Goddess has fallen away with the various invasions of patriarchal communities, and the rise of Christianity on one hand and the pagan Norse religion on the other.

Branwen is torn between two potential lovers: Thorkell, ostensibly one of the enemy because he is a Viking leader, and Eadric who is married to Ethelred's daughter but exercises a spell of physical attraction over her. As the country is beset by fighting between the various factions, Branwen tries to stay at her beloved home, Thornbury, and to avoid having to choose sides, even though her brother Godwin has joined the band of Edmund, younger son of Ethelred, whereas Thorkell's leader is Knut (who I was aware became the historical King Canute). Inevitably, she becomes drawn in to the fighting and has to use her powers to prevent bloodshed, perhaps inadvertently making things worse and certainly making one enemy too many.

The picture of the lifestyle of the times among the Saxon nobility is interesting. I also liked the fantasy elements of unicorns, speech with birds, illusion-casting and so on. The main character's staying on the fence though does make it difficult to identify with her, especially since Eadric is quite obviously a nasty piece of work underneath his charm. And there is some clumsiness in the writing: for example, in the opening scene, Branwen's "small hands" and behaviour made me picture a young child whereas it transpired that she was fifteen years old, an age when many of her contemporaries would already have been married. I gather there is a sequel but prefer to halt here before the perhaps inevitable tragedy follows. All in all, a 3-star rating as I liked it but it wasn't a keeper.… (meer)