Reviews for The Celtic Fervour Series
The Beltane Choice
I'll be perfectly honest here, though the blurb of The Beltane Choice caught my eye, I never expected to be swept away by that story as I have been...Nancy Jardine weaves an intriguing plot with very interesting colorful secondary characters. The writing is brilliant and I found myself totally immersed in the ancient Celtic world. She has certainly used a lot of historical research and authentic details for her storyline. The very dramatic context and romantic conflict are skillfully combined. The dialogs are fantastic and the phrasing is so original it gives the characters’ speech a sense of genuine authenticity.
The wonderful descriptions have both captured my mind and fuelled my imagination. Ms. Jardine made me feel as though I had been transported to Northern Britannia of those troubled and perilous times. What a fabulous book ! I give it 5 stars.
That is a powerfully sensual opening chapter, and the richness of the prose draws even this reader, unused to this era, into the story.
Who is Nara, and how will Lorcan, her bitter enemy win her over?
The captive inevitably comes under the spell of her enemy, learning to seek his protection, intensely aware of the forbidden passions he awakes in her.
And she discloses her identity, but there is still a mystery, and the Beltane fires are approaching. Who will Nara choose at this ritual?
Impeccable prose, suitably matched to the times of turbulent Roman Britain, marches the story towards a fitting political and personal conclusion - but not without some satisfying twists.
From its exciting, tense opening, 'The Beltane Choice' grips and never lets go. Nara, the heroine, is of her time - a brave, independent young woman mysteriously rejected by her own family yet striving to do the best for her tribe. Lorcan, the man who rescues her then captures her, is an enemy - or is he?
The sparks between these two feel real and the whole setting is authentic and very realistic. The attitudes of the ancient Celts are brought vividly to life by Nancy Jardine and Lorcan, a man with tactical understanding and compassion as well as courage, is a superb hero. The plight of captives in the ancient world is shown well, as is the looming threat of Rome to the free Celtic peoples. In the end, to save their tribes, Nara and Lorcan must make a heat-breaking choice - so will they win through to their own deserved happy ending? The way they do so is very beautiful.
If you are looking for a historical romance that is different, authentic and original and rooted thoroughly in the past, look no further.
"...The wonderful descriptions have both captured my mind and fueled my imagination. Ms. Jardine made me feel as though I had been transported to Northern Britannia of those troubled and perilous times. What a fabulous book ! I give it 5 stars. "
Mary Rose - Oh, Those Celts! "...The author has created a wonderful look into the life inside a hill fort, with well defined characters - some sympathetic and some not so much. I thoroughly enjoyed The Beltane Choice! "
Kate Robbins "...The Beltane Choice sweeps you back to when northern Britain was claimed by Celtic tribes who successfully banded together over time to drive back the unrelenting Roman Army. The love story of Lorcan and Nara is as wild as that untamed land and as sweet as heather mead. Nancy Jardine creates vivid settings and real characters you care about from page one. Loved this book! "
Nancy Jardine has woven a tale as complex as the Celtic knot that graces the book's cover. Winding and illusory, readers may see one circumstance, but events intercede to disabuse us of any notion that this is a simple story. The endless and unified nature of the cover illustration reflects the events occurring in the lives of those in The Beltane Choice, individually and as humans who experience these occasions across time. And, like the winding knot that appears as sheer simplicity but is much more beneath, the smooth passage from Nara's entrapment by the boar to her ultimate choice, the author utilizes language in a way both straightforward and elegant."
Nancy Jardine is best known as a writer of contemporary romantic fiction. She has even described herself, in the past, as a writer of “light-hearted contemporary romance novels” and “womens’ fiction.” In The Beltane Choice, she moves far beyond these categories, whilst building on the strengths of earlier work. It is a work of serious historical fiction which will certainly appeal to women but which, I believe, will appeal equally to men. If, as a child, you enjoyed the works of Rosemary Sutcliff (and I know few readers of historical fiction who didn't) then, as an adult, you will love this. It is definitely the “adult version” Certainly there is plenty of romance (and, indeed, sex) in it, but the sex scenes are written with the elegance and tenderness that one sees, say, in the work of D.H.Lawrence. The historical side is meticulously researched (it is set in Northern Britain in 71 AD, against the background of the Roman invasion) and has, at its heart the paradox of a conflict between conflicts (on the one hand, the inter-tribal conflicts that had riven British societies for centuries and, on the other, the conflict with the Roman invader that requires those societies to come together. As such, it combines a very human and personal story with a very believable vision of Late Iron Age society in Northern Britain.
After Whorl: Bran Reborn
The second part of a trilogy is perhaps the most difficult to write. The author has already introduced some of the key themes in the first part (prominent among the themes of The Beltane Choice was the conflict between the Brigantes tribe of northern England and the advancing legions of Rome in 71 AD), and almost certainly has in mind a final resolution in the third part, but does not want to give the game away in the second.
In After Whorl, Bran Reborn, we are still in 71 AD, and conflict between Romans and Britons remains at the heart of the story, but Nancy Jardine meets the challenge of the second volume by flipping viewpoints. Nara and Lorcan, the lovers at the centre of The Beltane Choice, appear only as minor characters in the current volume. Instead the focus is on Lorcan's brother, Brennus. His story, here, is very much a meditation on the theme of defeat, and on the possibility of resilience in the face of it. The "Whorl" of the title is a battle (a fictional one, since the military campaigns of the Roman Governor Cerialis against the Brigantes are documented only in the vaguest sense), a battle which the Britons have lost, and in which Brennus has been badly maimed. His people's freedom is forfeit, and his own world falls apart when a stranger arrives with unwelcome news. Potentially the star attraction as a captive in a Roman Triumph, he adopts a new and humbler identity, Bran. His whole life has been lived as a warrior, but now he is totally dependent on the elderly healer, Meaghan, who tends his wounds. She, in turn, becomes dependent on him, but he is ill prepared for this role. The book charts his struggle to reassert his identity, and to find a new role in life, assisted by Meaghan's teenage daughter, Ineda.
Nancy Jardine has done a superb job in creating such a vivid and believable story against a background in which neither history nor archaeology provides much solid material to work with. As in The Beltane Choice, historical figures such as Governor Cerialis and the Brigantian king, Venutius, remain in the shadows, the light shining instead on the hopes and fears of ordinary people; the work itself, a triumph of narrative clarity over historical obscurity.
After Whorl - Bran reborn is a sequel to Nancy Jardine's earlier novel, The Beltane Choice. It follows Brennus, a minor character in the first book, maimed and almost killed in battle with the Romans, as he is first nursed back to health by aged healer Meaghan, then struggles to adapt to his disabilities and find a new role for himself. His warrior past behind him, he becomes Bran, a trader, a messenger ... and a spy. Bran's travails, and the tensions in his relationship with his young adoptive sister Ineda are sensitively and intelligently handled, as are the ambiguities, compromises and uncertainties of a land neither wholly conquered nor wholly free. As in The Beltane Choice, the author brings the culture and society of celtic Britain vividly to life - and in this book there is also an intriguing contrast with the ordered, militaristic lifestyle of the occupying Romans. An engaging tale, with fascinating insights into Celtic and Roman Britain.
After Whorl: Donning Double Cloaks
The Beltane Choice
I'll be perfectly honest here, though the blurb of The Beltane Choice caught my eye, I never expected to be swept away by that story as I have been...Nancy Jardine weaves an intriguing plot with very interesting colorful secondary characters. The writing is brilliant and I found myself totally immersed in the ancient Celtic world. She has certainly used a lot of historical research and authentic details for her storyline. The very dramatic context and romantic conflict are skillfully combined. The dialogs are fantastic and the phrasing is so original it gives the characters’ speech a sense of genuine authenticity.
The wonderful descriptions have both captured my mind and fuelled my imagination. Ms. Jardine made me feel as though I had been transported to Northern Britannia of those troubled and perilous times. What a fabulous book ! I give it 5 stars.
That is a powerfully sensual opening chapter, and the richness of the prose draws even this reader, unused to this era, into the story.
Who is Nara, and how will Lorcan, her bitter enemy win her over?
The captive inevitably comes under the spell of her enemy, learning to seek his protection, intensely aware of the forbidden passions he awakes in her.
And she discloses her identity, but there is still a mystery, and the Beltane fires are approaching. Who will Nara choose at this ritual?
Impeccable prose, suitably matched to the times of turbulent Roman Britain, marches the story towards a fitting political and personal conclusion - but not without some satisfying twists.
From its exciting, tense opening, 'The Beltane Choice' grips and never lets go. Nara, the heroine, is of her time - a brave, independent young woman mysteriously rejected by her own family yet striving to do the best for her tribe. Lorcan, the man who rescues her then captures her, is an enemy - or is he?
The sparks between these two feel real and the whole setting is authentic and very realistic. The attitudes of the ancient Celts are brought vividly to life by Nancy Jardine and Lorcan, a man with tactical understanding and compassion as well as courage, is a superb hero. The plight of captives in the ancient world is shown well, as is the looming threat of Rome to the free Celtic peoples. In the end, to save their tribes, Nara and Lorcan must make a heat-breaking choice - so will they win through to their own deserved happy ending? The way they do so is very beautiful.
If you are looking for a historical romance that is different, authentic and original and rooted thoroughly in the past, look no further.
"...The wonderful descriptions have both captured my mind and fueled my imagination. Ms. Jardine made me feel as though I had been transported to Northern Britannia of those troubled and perilous times. What a fabulous book ! I give it 5 stars. "
Mary Rose - Oh, Those Celts! "...The author has created a wonderful look into the life inside a hill fort, with well defined characters - some sympathetic and some not so much. I thoroughly enjoyed The Beltane Choice! "
Kate Robbins "...The Beltane Choice sweeps you back to when northern Britain was claimed by Celtic tribes who successfully banded together over time to drive back the unrelenting Roman Army. The love story of Lorcan and Nara is as wild as that untamed land and as sweet as heather mead. Nancy Jardine creates vivid settings and real characters you care about from page one. Loved this book! "
Nancy Jardine has woven a tale as complex as the Celtic knot that graces the book's cover. Winding and illusory, readers may see one circumstance, but events intercede to disabuse us of any notion that this is a simple story. The endless and unified nature of the cover illustration reflects the events occurring in the lives of those in The Beltane Choice, individually and as humans who experience these occasions across time. And, like the winding knot that appears as sheer simplicity but is much more beneath, the smooth passage from Nara's entrapment by the boar to her ultimate choice, the author utilizes language in a way both straightforward and elegant."
Nancy Jardine is best known as a writer of contemporary romantic fiction. She has even described herself, in the past, as a writer of “light-hearted contemporary romance novels” and “womens’ fiction.” In The Beltane Choice, she moves far beyond these categories, whilst building on the strengths of earlier work. It is a work of serious historical fiction which will certainly appeal to women but which, I believe, will appeal equally to men. If, as a child, you enjoyed the works of Rosemary Sutcliff (and I know few readers of historical fiction who didn't) then, as an adult, you will love this. It is definitely the “adult version” Certainly there is plenty of romance (and, indeed, sex) in it, but the sex scenes are written with the elegance and tenderness that one sees, say, in the work of D.H.Lawrence. The historical side is meticulously researched (it is set in Northern Britain in 71 AD, against the background of the Roman invasion) and has, at its heart the paradox of a conflict between conflicts (on the one hand, the inter-tribal conflicts that had riven British societies for centuries and, on the other, the conflict with the Roman invader that requires those societies to come together. As such, it combines a very human and personal story with a very believable vision of Late Iron Age society in Northern Britain.
After Whorl: Bran Reborn
The second part of a trilogy is perhaps the most difficult to write. The author has already introduced some of the key themes in the first part (prominent among the themes of The Beltane Choice was the conflict between the Brigantes tribe of northern England and the advancing legions of Rome in 71 AD), and almost certainly has in mind a final resolution in the third part, but does not want to give the game away in the second.
In After Whorl, Bran Reborn, we are still in 71 AD, and conflict between Romans and Britons remains at the heart of the story, but Nancy Jardine meets the challenge of the second volume by flipping viewpoints. Nara and Lorcan, the lovers at the centre of The Beltane Choice, appear only as minor characters in the current volume. Instead the focus is on Lorcan's brother, Brennus. His story, here, is very much a meditation on the theme of defeat, and on the possibility of resilience in the face of it. The "Whorl" of the title is a battle (a fictional one, since the military campaigns of the Roman Governor Cerialis against the Brigantes are documented only in the vaguest sense), a battle which the Britons have lost, and in which Brennus has been badly maimed. His people's freedom is forfeit, and his own world falls apart when a stranger arrives with unwelcome news. Potentially the star attraction as a captive in a Roman Triumph, he adopts a new and humbler identity, Bran. His whole life has been lived as a warrior, but now he is totally dependent on the elderly healer, Meaghan, who tends his wounds. She, in turn, becomes dependent on him, but he is ill prepared for this role. The book charts his struggle to reassert his identity, and to find a new role in life, assisted by Meaghan's teenage daughter, Ineda.
Nancy Jardine has done a superb job in creating such a vivid and believable story against a background in which neither history nor archaeology provides much solid material to work with. As in The Beltane Choice, historical figures such as Governor Cerialis and the Brigantian king, Venutius, remain in the shadows, the light shining instead on the hopes and fears of ordinary people; the work itself, a triumph of narrative clarity over historical obscurity.
After Whorl - Bran reborn is a sequel to Nancy Jardine's earlier novel, The Beltane Choice. It follows Brennus, a minor character in the first book, maimed and almost killed in battle with the Romans, as he is first nursed back to health by aged healer Meaghan, then struggles to adapt to his disabilities and find a new role for himself. His warrior past behind him, he becomes Bran, a trader, a messenger ... and a spy. Bran's travails, and the tensions in his relationship with his young adoptive sister Ineda are sensitively and intelligently handled, as are the ambiguities, compromises and uncertainties of a land neither wholly conquered nor wholly free. As in The Beltane Choice, the author brings the culture and society of celtic Britain vividly to life - and in this book there is also an intriguing contrast with the ordered, militaristic lifestyle of the occupying Romans. An engaging tale, with fascinating insights into Celtic and Roman Britain.
After Whorl: Donning Double Cloaks