I discovered a new-to-me author AND a new-to-me series. I'm feeling lucky!
FROM AMAZON: Shortlisted for the UK Novel Writing Competition 2016.
She was present at the birth of a nation.
Her descendants sit on the British throne to this day.
But history does not even record her name…
In ninth century Britain, the Picts and the Gaels fight for supremacy over the North. In one of their rare truces, a young Pict woman is reluctantly married to a Gael warrior, son of one of the great Chiefs of Dal Riata.
Leaving behind her family and the Pict lord she had hoped to marry, she travels west to the household of Alpin, where she is viewed with suspicion by many of her new kin. But it is the collapse of the truce and the indifference of her husband that leaves her position in her new land increasingly vulnerable, as war breaks out once again. Forced to forget her Pict heritage, she fears that one day she will be faced with an agonising choice between the victory of her husband or her father.
Spanning over a decade of turbulent Scottish history, her journey takes her from the splendours of the Fortress of Dunadd to the tranquillity of the sacred Isle of Iona, where even greater danger lurks as the terrifying Norsemen plan their own attacks. However, it seems that her hardest battle will be to win the heart of her husband, the brave, cunning and often ruthless Cinaed as he fights his way towards a destiny that could be greater than anyone imagines…
The man known to history as Kenneth Mac Alpin.
MY REVIEW: (4 STARS) This is the first book that I've read by Anna Chant, but it will not be the last.
Chant blends historical fact and fiction to create an entertaining world you can get caught up in. I especially like how she chose such an obscure--yet important--woman from history to weave a story about. The story is fast-paced, there's just enough detail to let you paint the picture in your mind, and (maybe most importantly) the writing doesn't suck.
Chant has the ability to draw you in with her words, and that is something every author should aspire to. I'm diving right into book two of this series.
Anna Chant, you have a new fan.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anna was born in Essex in 1974. She loved reading from an early age, enjoying books such as the Chronicles of Narnia and Watership Down. She discovered historical fiction in her teens and this soon became a favourite genre, with 'Katherine' by Anya Seton one of her most read books.
After a completing a degree in history, Anna lived in Germany for a year before training as a teacher. She currently lives in Devon with her husband and three sons.
Anna has always enjoyed writing and has experimented over the years with various genres including thrillers, children's and science fiction. In 2015 she started work on a book inspired by her love of history and her Scots ancestry. The result was 'Kenneth's Queen', a tale of the forgotten wife of Kenneth mac Alpin, his rise to power and the birth of Scotland.
Anna has fallen in love with the Dark Ages and the part played by the often unrecorded and uncelebrated women who lived through these tumultuous events. She plans to tell the stories of as many as possible!
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