Brigid of Kildare: A Novel by Heather Terrell

by Heather Terrell

Rich in historical detail, Heather Terrell’s mesmerizing novel Brigid of Kildare is the story of the revolutionary Saint Brigid and the discovery of the oldest illuminated manuscript in the annals of the Church, a manuscript that contains an astonishing secret history. Fifth-century Brigid is Ireland’s first and only female priest and bishop. Followers flock to her Kildare abbey and scriptorium. Hearing accounts of Brigid’s power, the Church deems her a threat and sends Decius, a Roman priest and scribe, on a secret mission to collect proof of Brigid’s heresy. As Decius records the unorthodox practices of Brigid and her abbey, he becomes intrigued by her. When Brigid assigns Decius a holy task—to create the most important and sacred manuscript ever made—he finds himself at odds with his original mission and faces the most difficult decision of his life.Modern Alexandra Patterson, an appraiser of medieval relics, has been summoned to Kildare to examine a reliquary box believed to belong to Saint Brigid. Hidden within the sacred box is the most beautiful illuminated manuscript Alex has ever seen. But even more extraordinary is the contents of the manuscript’s vellum pages, which may have dire repercussions for the Catholic Church and could very well rewrite the origins of Christianity.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Ireland, Fiction, Historical, Religion, Irish Literature, Medieval

Unknown Binding

First published June 23, 2009

About the author

Heather Terrell is a lawyer with more than ten years' experience as a litigator at two of the country's premier law firms and for Fortune 500 companies. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College with a focus in History and Art History, and a cum laude graduate of the Boston University School of Law. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family.
Heather is the author of The Chrysalis and The Map Thief, which will appear in more than ten countries, as well as Brigid of Kildare. She turned her hand to young adult fiction with the Fallen Angel series, and continues it with the upcoming series The Books of Eva. The first book in the series -- Relic -- releases in October 2013.

Reviews

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brigid of Kildare is she just a legend or historical figure? Nonetheless, this novel brings a fascinating figure of Saint Brigid who was presumably Ireland’s first and only female priest and bishop.

Gael, Ireland, A.D. 456. Brigid, daughter of Dubtach – king of the Fothairt people of southern Gael, at young age questions the lack of prominent women in Jesus’s earthly world. She questions women as passive vessels for the doings of men. She questions a world without women leaders. It is during a time when the infiltration of Roman Church reaches the Gaelic people. Dubtach refuses to be baptized or to force his people to do it. Nevertheless, he allows his daughter to be baptized in secret. Brigid is of age that she must choose a life path. She chooses a Christian path with singular devotion. Thus, rejecting marriage against her father’s choosing. To appease her parents, she is guided to blend Gaels customs with Christianity. She doesn’t preach. With patience and by listening, she guides her people in constructive way, earning their trust. Village by village, she converts them from believing in many gods to one God.

A.D. 470. Brother Decius is sent from Rome to Gael to spy on Brigid and her heresy. What he sees is not what he expected. The craftsmanship of any kind of art is impressive, (not primitive). The people are warm, (not guarded). He notices no strict hierarchy. He is assigned to create a sacred manuscript and with time, he finds himself at odds with his original mission.

Present day Ireland. Alex arrives in Kildare where Sister Mary at Saint Brigid’s Church presents her with relics to be appraised. She comes across the most beautiful illuminated manuscript.

I enjoyed the protagonist very much. She is educated and trained as a warrior, but chooses a peaceful path guided by God. With the converted and increasing population, she remains humble. With her self-appointed ministry, she knows she has to be smart and tread the waters carefully not to alienate the Roman Church. She is a natural leader, among many achievements founding a monastery and a school of art, including illumination and creating magnificently illuminated Book of Kildare.

I enjoyed the story in its entirety. However, the first part of the book is wonderful in character-development, which I wished continued to the end. The second part of the book is more concentrated on the Book of Kildare, the oldest illuminated manuscript, a manuscript holding some secrets. With rich historical background, especially pertaining to the manuscript, and with grasping storytelling readers are taken on an interesting journey of an extraordinary character – Saint Brigid.

Usually, I do not like present/modern timeline woven with period timelines, but I was grasped by both timelines and they are interlaced seamlessly.

P.S. If you are not familiar with this author – Heather Tarrell, but familiar with Marie Benedict, this is the same author. Also, highly recommend Marie Benedict's upcoming book Her Hidden Genius.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful historical fiction novel of the life of St. Brigid. It had a dual story line with multiple points of view. We start our story in 5th century Rome in the form of letters from Decius to his brother. The Vatican has sent Decius to Ireland to spy on Brigid to investigate her practices of heresy. Brigid’s story is written as a biography of her life. Brigid chooses to become a priest and follow the word of the Lord. Rome is not happy with this and tries to stop her. Current day Dublin we meet Alexandra Patterson, an appraiser of medieval relics. She is employed to examine a reliquary box believed to belong to St Brigid. Alex finds a hidden document and has to do more research as to the authenticity. Can this be the missing book of Kildare?
I enjoyed reading this book very much. It was well researched. I think the author did a good job of describing the ancient pagan worship of Ireland. This story tells of strong woman and how they pick their own paths of life. This is a work of historical fiction and I take it just as it is. Are all the facts true? I do not know but will read more on the subject. I think this is a good read for all if you are interested in historical fiction

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so close to being good. So close! And it just fell short, which is a real shame. I blame it on the late 2000s Da Vinci Code trend. There are three storylines here: two ancient (Brigid and a contemporary, fictional monk) and one contemporary (an authenticator handling relics/manuscripts). If the book had only been focused on the ancient storylines, I think it would have avoided some of the Da Vinci Code nonsense, but Terrell’s research was not good enough to get it out of that category entirely. Fortunately, her writing is significantly better than Dan Brown’s.

Terrell’s core idea is the lost Book of Kildare. Cool. Also, early Marian devotion in Ireland. Also very cool. Yet, Terrell--and by extension, her fictionalization of Brigid--reads twenty-first-century notions into the canonical Gospels and turns to gnostic texts. In many ways, this doesn’t serve the narrative. Terrell’s Brigid is earthy, loves creation and the world around her; gnostics famously abhorred the body and matter as a whole. Fictional Brigid also dismisses all portrayals of women in the Gospels outright:

“We have heard tale after tale of [Jesus’] ministry, yet His followers seem to be exclusively men….In the atypical instance where a woman is discussed, she is a passive female family member or a serving girl or a whore.” (37)

Let’s consider the women of Gospels:

Mary, mother of God: need I say more than God asked a woman to bear his own son? The Magnificat shows a lifelong influence of the Hebrew Scriptures. (Compare it line by line with Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel.) This is why Mary is portrayed as literate, reading messianic prophecies, in images of the Annunciation. Also note that Mary’s enquiries do not result in her being struck dumb, unlike her cousin Zechariah just a few verses earlier.

Mary Magdalene: medieval church leaders decided, without no textual evidence, that her seven exorcised demons=prostitution. It's more likely that she was an independently wealthy woman who financed Jesus’ peripatetic preaching. She was also the first witness to and preacher of the resurrection. At a time when women’s testimonies were not admissible in Roman courts. Hmmm. Wonder why Jesus’ whole story, from the virgin birth to the resurrection, hinges on the testimonies of women, then? Maybe because he cared about women?

Mary and Martha of Bethany: heaven forbid these ~family members~ be taken seriously in their own right because they had the audacity to have a brother. Never mind that they are unmarried and running the household. Lazarus, the passive one, only popped in to die and be resurrected. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, in the posture of a disciple. She also was the only person in the whole four Gospels to demonstrate that she understood Jesus was about to be executed and resurrected, via washing Jesus’ feet with perfume. Evidence that she was a prostitute is not founded in canonical evidence. Martha has a “you are the Christ” moment which Jesus answers with one of John’s 7 “I am” statements. Most people in the Gospels, men or women, don’t get that.

Others: the woman who touched Jesus’ robe and was healed; the little girl whom Jesus healed; the woman who reminded him that even dogs were fed scraps from their masters’ tables. Who do you think brought their children to see Jesus, despite the disciples' discouragement? And I’m not even going to get into the fact that even if all the women of the Gospels were prostitutes and serving girls, they’d still be a valuable part of the story because they are present in the text. The passive thing, though? Read the Gospels again, I beg you.

By blithely eliding these women from the historical record, Terrell demeans people that the real Brigid would have believed were truly historical. She also seems to be ignorant of the fact that in Brigid’s day women were still being ordained as deaconesses, priests, and--yes!--bishops. The hard evidence remains even though the high middle ages (centuries after Brigid) sought to elide it. I just…I just can’t stand this type of erasure of real, historical women to fit some twenty-first-century narrative that the early church hated women. Sure, there were early Christians whose misogyny was unshriven. There were also many men who imitated Christ by promoting women’s activity in the church, not to mention the real women who led, taught, and witnessed. In Terrell’s world, Celtic Christianity as it actually was could not have existed. Hilda of Whitby would not have existed two centuries later. Macrina the Younger, a hundred years before Brigid, did not exist in Terrell’s world. Neither did Vibia Perpetua and Felicitas--two centuries before Brigid. Lifting up women doesn't work when it involves putting down other women.

The whole Mariology thing--I’m Protestant, and not especially devoted to Mary. I think she’s cool but I don’t say the Hail Mary. Yet, I hurt for people who have found solace in Mary that were dismissed by Terrell’s weak understanding of Marian devotion in the modern day. (Not to mention her portrayal of contemporary Roman Catholicism was, at times, hard to believe.) The entire book has a weird take on Mary, namely that she needs to be made into something modern people can like, rather than accepting her for who she is. There is too much Mariological heresy going on in this world for me to accept anything that promotes another one. I’m not even going to get into the fact that “heresy” is misused throughout the book, when heterodoxy or just “I don’t like that” would suffice.

Also, Brigid falls in love with someone toward the end of the book and it’s very unconvincing and inconsistent with the rest of her character. I guess you could interpret it as the writer of her life the monk who is her contemporary storyteller projecting his feelings on to her, but honestly the text does not hold up to interpretation with an unreliable narrator.

Overall, I liked Terrell’s writing well enough, but her total lack of understanding the historical world made me lose faith in her as a historical novelist. If she had just read the Gospels. Brigid of Kildare had real potential but was shot down by many fatal flaws, the worst of which is erasing real, historical women to pave the way for a fictionalized heroine. Clearly Terrell had done some research (she knew the egalitarian structure of medieval Irish politics) but there was just not enough to make her novel believable. The contemporary storyline is so forgettable that I didn't even mention it again until now. A truly disappointing miss for me.

[Ksenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

What if there was a book that pre-dated the Book of Kells?

I didn’t know anything about Saint Brigid when I was reading this, so I liked that I was discovering the book and Brigid herself as I read along, sort of like Alexandra was.

I liked the fact that there were three points of view. One was from Alexandra’s perspective, the second was Decius, in the form of letters he was writing to his brother, and the third was an omniscient narrator, as if it was narrating the biography of Brigid. They weren’t confusing at all, despite moving backwards and forwards in the story as a whole.

Interesting thing to note: instead of this book involving matters of pagan vs. Christianity, it was more like Christianity vs. Christianity. Rome wanted Ireland and Brigid to run the Church in a specific way, but Brigid defied those rules. She incorporated bits of the pagan rituals into her mission to convert her people. She eased them into it. Decius, who was meant to report back on all this heathen stuff, found himself converting too in a way. Brigid here is portrayed as a gentle person just trying to spread the word of Christianity in the way that she thinks is right. Granted, it might seem a bit too forced that this happens, but it works here.

For such a skinny book (256 pages), there was a lot of narrative and information packed in there. I’m not sure what else to say, other than I enjoyed it and I would definitely recommend it to others.

[Andrea M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It has a dual story line which definitely made it more interesting. The two main characters are Brigid, a 5th century warrior-nun and Alexandra a modern-day archeological appraiser. Alexandra is called in to look at some old relics and determine their authenticity. A hand painted copy of the scriptures with the story of Brigid and her contribution to Christianity in Ireland is the other half of the story. I found that is was impossible not to compare Alexandra with Brigid even though they had nothing in common except they are both women. The author also supposes that the idea of creating Mary as an icon came from a woman and possibly Brigid. Whether or not it is true, I was fascinated with the way that iconography may have developed in Catholic christianity and how it has affected the whole world. It certainly gave me plenty to think about.

This book should be read with: What Life Was Like Among Druids and High Kings: Celtic Ireland, AD 400-1200 by Time Life Books

[Jemima Raven · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a disappointment. Prepare for a bit of smite. This one star wonder was written by an author with lashings of creative imagination and absolutely no cohesive writing skills, such that are required to make a lot of conceived historical fantasy into something worth reading. Unfortunately, I eagerly chose this book because I wanted to learn more about Ireland in the 5th century and it looked like a fascinating read. I did my homework prior on the little known legend vs facts known about the history of Saint Brigid. Unfortunately this entirely fictitious work made absolutely no use of the stories passed down orally even, never mind any other more concrete historical evidence.

The biggest issues with the book about from historical inaccuracy (which may be forgiven if it is a work of fiction although I prefer my historical fiction to be well researched and based on fact because I love to learn) was the structure. Three separate voices are used as narrative. First, Decius tells his story of being sent by the Roman Church to report back on disturbing rumours of heresy in the far off island of Gael. His narrative is in the form of letters written to a brother and this was my favorite narrative in the book as it seemed the most rooted in historical accuracy and was the most interesting and relatable. Then there is Brigid’s story, but instead of allowing her to tell it in her own words or allowing another narrator to relate it, it is told in a very strange tense where we feel we are watching everything that is happening to her, but are entirely removed from being able to participate or emphasise with her, because she seems to have no real relations outside of our scrying glass view of her life. It is really odd and very distancing. It is in such a different tense and voice from that of Decius and also from the narrative of
Alex. Yes that’s right we also have the voice of a modern day relic investigator who has a story of her own to relate.

Frankly, none of the characters are particularly interesting, a number are quite repellent. Nothing interesting particularly happens. There are swathes and swathes of talk about different aspects of Catholic faith and apostate versions of ‘gospels’, religious beliefs about Mary worship and how and why they came about which seem entirely inaccurate to me, even with my basic understanding of Roman church history. The characters from the 5th century had very modern day ways of expressing themselves and of thinking and there was almost no exploration of their world, customs or cultures. The book jumped from stage to stage in the history of Brigid and turned what must have been a brave and driven woman of high ideals and purpose into a woman who follows her mothers’ direction, sees herself as a pagan style goddess who through this presentation can fascinate those around her to convert to her brand of worship and who ultimately regrets her vows when a very uninteresting man betrays a fascination for her that does not go beyond interest. What a sad portrayal of a woman who is purportedly trying to raise the role of women in the church. I’m not Catholic and do not take any interest in Saint worship. I speak only from the point of view of an observer hearing the constant fin of purpose and conviction dinned in my ear and never seeing any action or initiative except that purposed by a dominant mother or would be love. I did finish the book but would never be tempted to try another book by this author. It was disappointing drivel.

[Latasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I enjoyed this story. It was well told and I liked the different points of view. Loved the historic part of it but by the end, I was left wanting more. Going into this book, I was hoping to connect with St. Brigid (or Goddess Brigid) the way I did with Circe by Madeleine Miller. That did not happen. Maybe it was because of the different storytellers, I don’t know. So bottom line- good, but left wanting more.

[Amber Araneae · Rating 5 out of 5]

My goodness this book was far more than I expected it to be. Brilliantly well researched Historical Fiction on Ireland's first and only female Saint, Brigid. This book not only provides a very well written insight to post St Patrick's Ireland but to the process of conversion from a pagan country to a christian one. The secondary love for this book was the parallel story of the actual long lost Book of Kildare pre-dating the Book of Kells and throwing a beautiful Biblical Archaeology piece to this story line. The historian in me, the Archaeologist in me, the adventure seeker in me and the religious history lover were all pulled together in this book.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all things Irish and I have been to Kildare. I also love strong women. I could not put this book down. It will be an all-time favorite. Now I want to do research.

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern-day Ireland: Alex Patterson is an appraiser of medieval relics who has been sent to Kildare to investigate the authenticity of a reliquary box believed to have belonged to Saint Brigid. She finds hidden in the box an extraordinary illuminated manuscript telling a history which could have an immense impact on the Church today.

5th Century Ireland: The story of Brigid, Ireland's first priest and bishop, and eventually a saint. A fascinating story of the combining of the Old Religion with the new, or at least whatever version of the new would succeed in overcoming the struggle. The Roman Church sends a priest scribe to investigate Brigid's unorthodox practices in her work to convert her people from their old ways to the new religion she has embraced.

I love the way the author takes us back and forth in time, as well as the way she develops Brigid's relationship with Decius, the Roman priest. No, there's no unrealistic hot romance....it's an intelligent and beautifully told story of Brigid's life, with lots of fascinating historical detail. Also very sad, of course, since obviously the Roman Church managed to suppress the bright, promising Irish Church, a detrimental result IMHO.......

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ireland, 5th century A.D.

4.4

Even though this is fiction, I feel as if I have walked across the pages of time. Terrell has crafted realistic characters who give insight into a specific era of Irish history and into the early years of the Catholic church. Brigid's story doesn't mesh completely with the tale of St Brigid, but then, both are probably products of the imagination. Who knows the real story of events from 1,600 years ago?

This is one of the books that will remain on my shelves as a book to be loaned to others and read again at some later date. Maybe I should have given it five stars.

[Lígia Bellini · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was a impressive reading! I was amazed by Saint Brigid' story! The book is so short, but with so many interesting informations about Her and Christianity in Ireland. She was brave to "defy" the rules of the Church and spread God's Words in a easy way to captivate the pagans into Christianity. Saint Brigid's faith in Virgin Mary was the most impressive reason to turn Her into a nun. She wanted to prove that a woman, can also spread God's Words, can also convert people, and not be a passive.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the author did a great job weaving together the religion of the Gael's (Irish) and how Brigid (the first and only female catholic bishop) strived to further Catholicism while letting her converts keep some of their Druidic customs. There were many references to the various gnostic gospels which has spiked my interest. She sounds like a remarkably strong woman and didn't shy from her beliefs....in spite of the Vatican.

[Kellie O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! Being Irish of course I know Saint Patrick but never heard of Saint Brigid. It is a beautiful, tender, sweet story. As a Born Again Christian the only thing that bothered me was why the characters in the book wanted to read books banned by the church. Other than that it's a wonderful book. 🤗

[Louisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been waiting 6 and a half years to read this book, which I first discovered in a list of books about Ireland. My public library did not have a copy, nor did the other nearby library system. I checked Kindle and Nook to no avail. I thought about ordering it during the pandemic, but managed to find plenty of other books to read.About two weeks ago, I searched again and found a used paperback copy. I finally ordered the book and hoped it was worth the wait. The first few pages left me cold. They focused on a monk who worked for the Pope in sixth century Rome who was being sent to spy on the Church in Gael. I wasn’t looking for religious politics. As I read a few more pages I met Brigid, daughter of a Gaelic king and his Christian wife. She was strong, educated in warfare as well as academics, intrinsically kind, and best of all, had a sense of humor to match her willpower.

Three plot lines run simultaneously. Decius, the Roman, writes letters to his brother that he knows he will never send. Most of them are about his encounters with the Gaels in general and Brigid in particular, complete with his analysis and judgments about specific situations. Brigid’s biography spans the period from 456 - 472, taking her from late girlhood to the height of her power and influence over Christianity in Gael. She, like Bishop Patrick before her, carefully encourages the people to find Christian feasts and practices similar to those they are already familiar with. At the same time she collects written works from all over the world, including texts of what would later be considered apocryphal books of the New Testament, and commissions Illuminated manuscripts to show the beauty and power of major texts, including a gospel that solidifies the importance of women in the church and focuses study of Jesus’s mother Mary. Alex Patterson’s employment at Kildare focuses on her examination of a chalice paten, and reliquary box that may date back to the sixth century. She and sister Mary, her contact at the abbey, play a cat and mouse game with one another that will lead them to agreement at its conclusion. Alex will decide if her friend and colleague Declan is using her or is, in fact, placing her mission in its proper perspective. Finally, all is as intended.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a little gem. A short book with a big story that seemed suitably fleshed out without loosing any of it's integrity.
I loved this book which is set in the 5th Century at the time when Christianity is slowly moving through Ireland. It follows three different characters, Brigid, who instead of following her parents wishes to marry, follows her calling and becomes a Christian leader baptising all those who want to follow the Christian lifestyle. Decius, a monk who has been sent from Rome to collect evidence of Brigids so called heresy and Alexandra, a modern day appraiser who is asked to value some relics that are going to be sold.
The book was more of a history than a religious indoctrination. It wasn't at all preachy which was something I really appreciated.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of Brigid of Kildare is interesting. The daughter of two warriors, she created a blend of Christianity that was based on the Roman Catholic church, but also integrated the some of Druid rituals in order to converted a disparate Ireland.

This book was interspersed past and present to tell the story, and while sometimes that works, in this case it just didn't. The modern day characters were so obnoxious that I got to the point I would just skip those chapters and read the historical ones.

[An · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has 3 story lines that are intertwined with each other:
. The story of Decius, a monk who heads to Ireland to find ways to declare the way early Christianity is lived there as non-Roman thus heretical
. The story of Brigid, finding ways to unite the Irish and bring Christianity to them in a way they can relate to
. The story of Alex, who finds the Lost book of Kildare and in doing so discovers the stories of Decius and Brigid and shines a light on what things might have been like at a time where the Roman empire was starting to crumble and the early Church was doing what they could to maintain control through religion rather than politics

It took me a little while to get into this story because initially Decius' voice is quite rigid and I found it hard to relate. But before long it gets really interesting and it unfolds into a beautiful and plausible filling in some of the gaps in history. Like... how come Celtic culture somehow managed to not completely disappear when a strong version of christianity took hold with St Patrick's arrival? How come the divine feminine was not completely suppressed here? What's the missing piece between a time where women were written out of the Bible and the Mary veneration that took hold later in the middle ages? What could early christianity have looked like at this time of history in this part of the world? How did the goddess Bride and St Brigid overlap in culture? What inspired beautiful works like The book of Kells and how is Irish culture woven into such works?

So plenty to learn here and a beautiful story that could plausibly fill in some gaps through its imaginings.

[Faith Justice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, although I was hoping for a little more in depth on Brigid's life (this is a novel, not a biography). The author uses a dual time format switching back and forth between the present day and late 5C Ireland. The story in the past is divided between a very personal set of letters from a Roman monk (secretly sent to Cill Dare to look for possible heresies) to his brother and excerpts from a dry fictional life of Saint Brigid (the weakest of the three narratives). The letters are rich in pathos and passion. "Brigid: A Life" not so much. The choice to write that section in a distant third person--almost like a biographer--deprived that narrative of emotion and depth. The "author" told the reader what was happening rather than showing. Toward the end of the book, some incidents were covered in both narratives, but felt redundant rather than illuminating. The present-day story offered the opportunity to inject a little romance into the narrative, as well as some interesting historical context which I quite enjoyed (I almost always find the modern story the weaker part of dual time books).

I most enjoyed the history, the mystery, and the author's attempt to posit some answers to real historical questions dealing with the evolution of the Catholic Church (particularly the cult of Mariology) and its relation to the development of the Church in Ireland. I've dealt with the misogyny of the 5C Church and powerful women's attempts to break through the bonds and strictures using the Virgin Mary in my own novels, so was familiar with much of the religious turmoil in this book. A solid read that made me want to look up more that might be known about the historical Saint Brigid.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very slow to begin with, but finished strong. There was so much fascinating tidbits about Irish history and how it was swallowed by Rome. Brigid was painted as a figure that I would love to have lunch with. She is strong and altruistic. I never knew that Patrick made her a bishop. I don't know if that has ever been done since.

[Yvonne van der Fluit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that I finished in just a couple of days as I just needed to know what happend next and before I knew it I was at the end of the book. Well done. Making saints more human with there own problems and ways they find solutions. In there time and present time the story unfolds.

[Chad Hansen-Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this is not what I was expecting it was a good book. I thought this would be a tale of Saint Brigid’s life but it is completely fictionalised. The underlying message though is important. The Catholic Church’s control over the gospels and suppression of women. A very entertaining story but from what I can tell it is complete fiction

[Kevin Mogee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Work of Strength

I loved this book. At first I wasn't sure if I was going to stick with it. For me it started out a little slow, but I'm glad I finished it. Brigid - whether the real person or the fictional character depicted here - was incredibly strong. It's interesting to think about the what ifs when it comes to the Catholic Church's historical treatment of women. How different the church would be if they had accepted women as equals.

The story of Brigid and Decius is complicated, made more so by their commitment to God. Heather Terrell could have easily made them more 'real' by allowing them to give in to their feelings​ for one another, but the beauty of the story is their devotion to what He has called upon them to do. Even if you don't have a belief or faith in God, their story is believable.

This book makes me want to do two things; first, I want to learn more about Brigid of Ireland, and second, I want to read Heather Terrell's other two books.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tight little novel (231 pages) is like a celtic knot - not large overall, but packed with insight and moving moments between all the characters. If you enjoy the thought of discovering old artifacts which make us question what we believe about the world, then you will enjoy this novel.

And if you liked this, and you're looking for your next read, you would probably also like the novel The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason.

For those truly interested in the real history of this time period in Ireland, I highly recommend How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill, a fascinating history presented as only a true storyteller can. (There is precious little about the historical Brigid, but what little there is fits nicely with Terrell's imagining in the novel.)

[Deni Cary · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a very different type of romance - and a different type of historical fiction as well. Terrell does a good job of drawing the reader into her mystery, creating a coming of age piece, illuminating the practices of the Church of Rome and the pagan worship of ancient Ireland, and evoking their coalescence into the practices we recognize today, all the while creating a tapestry of daily life that included monastic work on illuminated manuscripts. The book is enjoyable reading, and I would highly recommend it to young girls. A story of a great woman who exerted herself to follow her heart and become more than a domestic and political servant - in fact, to become a Saint.
Terrell weaves three points of view, three separate stories, into a Celtic maze that returns to illuminate how very much alike we have remained throughout the ages.

[Booknblues · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and entertaining historical fiction about Brigid of Kildare set in the 6th century with Brigid and the twenty-first century with Alexandra Patterson assessing relics at St. Brigid's Abbey.

As there is little known about St. Brigid, much of this speculative, but it makes for an interesting story.

Brigid is presented as an astute woman who wanted to make her own way and cared deeply for her people and her faith. She attempted a balancing act of bringing the Irish people into the fold of Christianity without alienating them from the church in Rome.

I found the story plausible and I enjoyed it.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a moment for me to get into the story. It becomes a bigger story for the style of it's telling. St. Brigid of Kildare was a larger than life woman. Who's spiritual prowess has been given some light of day through this story. I liked the story, and while a man may have entered her life. She lived decades before and after him. The idea of Brigid playing off the image of Brigid the goddess is intriguing. I don't think the idea is far fetched, and it might have tainted her image. But I think it is Brigid a strong woman that taints her in the eyes of the Church.

I suspect either the Vatican or English archives have hidden away what the public should know.

[Anam Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book. I found this at Borders going-out-of business sale. I don't think it is a TRUE story, although it is very good and makes on think. It makes me want to read more about Brigid. I love illuminated manuscripts and this is a story about how the missing Book of Kildare (true) came to be written even before the Book of Kells. I love Celtic Christianity and this is from the earliest days. I hope to pass this on to friends who will enjoy it as much as I did.

[Lisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book managed to intrigue and inspire me simultaneously. I am a history fanatic, though I haven't been formerly caught up in the particular history of Roman Catholicism, that is until now, upon completion of this book! I'm also swept away with a sudden urge to be more tenacious in life than I've been allowed by others, or have allowed myself to be. I enjoyed this book immensely; I will be reading the author's other titles soon.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how this story evolved. There's actually three stories being told, First is Brigid's story. She is a strong female character who embraces the christian beliefs-more specifically the gospel of Mary. She is Ireland's first and only female priest. Secondly, is the Roman priest and scribe sent on a secret mission to collect proof of her heresy. Lastly, is a modern day woman who is an appraiser of medieval relics. It's a fun historical/fictional read.