Book picks similar to
The Last Battle of Moytura by Sean Fitzgerald


irish-books-read
mythology
mythology-and-sagas
celts

Celtic Tales: Fairy Tales and Stories of Enchantment from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, and Wales


Kate Forrester - 2016
    Perilous quests, true love, and animals that talk. The traditional stories of Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, and Wales transport us to the fantastical world of Celtic folklore. These timeless tales brim with wit and magic, and each on is brought to life with elegant silhouette art in this special illustrated edition.

The Stolen Child


Lisa Carey - 2017
    From one side of St. Brigid’s Island, the mountains of Connemara can be glimpsed on the distant mainland; from the other, the Atlantic stretches as far as the eye can see. This remote settlement, without electricity or even a harbor, has scarcely altered since its namesake saint set up a convent of stone huts centuries ago. Those who live there, including sisters Rose and Emer, are hardy and resourceful, dependent on the sea and each other for survival. Despite the island’s natural beauty, it is a place that people move away from, not to—until an outspoken American, also named Brigid, arrives to claim her late uncle’s cottage.Brigid has come for more than an inheritance. She’s seeking a secret holy well that’s rumored to grant miracles. Emer, as scarred and wary as Rose is friendly and beautiful, has good reason to believe in inexplicable powers. Despite her own strange abilities—or perhaps because of them—Emer fears that she won’t be able to save her young son, Niall, from a growing threat. Yet Brigid has a gift too, even more remarkable than Emer’s. As months pass and Brigid carves out a place on the island and in the sisters’ lives, a complicated web of betrayal, fear, and desire culminates in one shocking night that will change the island, and its inhabitants, forever.Steeped in Irish history and lore, The Stolen Child is a mesmerizing descent into old world beliefs, and a captivating exploration of desire, myth, motherhood, and love in all its forms.

Savage Her Reply


Deirdre Sullivan - 2020
    A retelling of the favourite Irish fairytale The Children of Lir. Aife marries Lir, a king with four children by his previous wife. Jealous of his affection for his children, the witch Aife turns them into swans for 900 years. Retold through the voice of Aife, Savage Her Reply is unsettling and dark, feminist and fierce, yet nuanced in its exploration of the guilt of a complex character. Voiced in Sullivan's trademark rich, lyrical prose as developed in Tangleweed and Brine - the multiple award-winner which established Sullivan as the queen of witchy YA. Another dark & witchy feminist fairytale from the author of Tangleweed and Brine

The Book of Kells


R.A. MacAvoy - 1985
    A contemporary man, John Thornburn (a meek, non-violent and unpredictable artist) and woman, Derval (his tough, confrontational, strong and warrior-like lover) time travel to ancient Ireland to avenge a Viking attack. Packed with fascinating details of historical time and place in Irish history and delicately balanced on the border between realism and fantasy, the story centers around one of the most famous and beautiful illuminated manuscripts in history, the legendary but entirely real Book of Kells. Celtic history blends with magical fantasy for a strange and immersive tale of adventure.

Mythology of the British Isles


Geoffrey Ashe - 1990
    The origins and legends of the Giants, the Ancient Britons, the Picts, the Scots and the English are all explained, in a work aimed at both the specialist and the casual reader. Organised into a simple system based on Robert Graves' classic Greek Myths, Ashe describes the myth or theme first followed by discussion or analysis.

Bogmeadow's Wish


Terry Kay - 2011
    He also has the tender memories of his grandfather's exaggerated stories of Irish wonder and magic stories of leprechauns and legends and the mysterious power of fate. But he doesnot have the story of why his grandfather left Ireland as a young man.Mesmerized by his romantic vision of Ireland, Cooper begins his search with a charming, down-on- his-luck Irish actor. He is also unprepared for the presence of Kathleen O'Reilly. As Cooper hunts for his grandfather's ghost, the landmarks and the fate of the Irish that Finn Coghlan talked of magically brings Cooper and Kathleen together. Yet, there is a truth between the two of them that not even the enchanting tale of Finn McCool and Sally Cavanaugh can resolve. For that, Cooper must use the one gift bestowed on him as a child by his grandfatherBogmeadow's wish.

Traditional Irish Fairy Tales


James Stephens - 1920
    and more

The Gold-Son


Carrie Anne Noble - 2017
    Driven by a curse that demands more and more gold, he’s sure to get caught eventually.When mysterious Lorcan Reilly arrives in town with his “niece,” Eve, Tommin believes the fellow wants to help him. Instead, Lorcan whisks him off to the underground realm of the Leprechauns, where, alongside Eve, he’s forced to prepare to become one of them.As Lorcan’s plans for his “gold-children” are slowly revealed, Tommin and Eve plan their escape. But with Tommin’s humanity slipping away, the fate-crossed pair has everything to lose unless they can find a way to outsmart a magical curse centuries in the making.

Isolde, Queen of the Western Isle


Rosalind Miles - 2002
    Isolde is the only daughter and heiress of Ireland's great ruling queen, a lady as passionate in battle as she is in love. La Belle Isolde, like her mother, is famed for her beauty, but she is a healer instead of a warrior, "of all surgeons, the best among the isles." A natural peacemaker, Isolde is struggling to save Ireland from a war waged by her dangerously reckless mother. The Queen is influenced by her lover, Sir Marhaus, who urges her to invade neighboring Cornwall and claim it for her own, a foolhardy move Isolde is determined to prevent. But she is unable to stop them. King Mark of Cornwall sends forth his own champion to do battle with the Irish--Sir Tristan of Lyonesse--a young, untested knight with a mysterious past. A member of the Round Table, Tristan has returned to the land of his birth after many years in exile, only to face Ireland's fiercest champion in combat. When he lies victorious but near death on the field of battle, Tristan knows that his only hope of survival lies to the West. He must be taken to Ireland to be healed, but he must go in disguise--for if the Queen finds out who killed her beloved, he will follow Marhaus into the spirit world. His men smuggle him into the Queen's fort at Dubh Lein, and beg the princess to save him.From this first meeting of star-crossed lovers, an epic story unfolds. Isolde's skill and beauty impress Tristan's uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, and--knowing nothing of her love for Tristan--he decides to make her his queen, a match her mother encourages as a way to bind their lands under one rule. Tristan and Isolde find themselves caught in the crosscurrents of fate, as Isolde is forced to marry a man she does not love. Taking pity on her daughter, the Queen gives her an elixir that will create in her a passion for King Mark and ensure that their love will last until death. But on the voyage to Ireland, Tristan and Isolde drink the love potion by accident, sealing their already perilous love forever.So begins the first book of the Tristan and Isolde trilogy, another stunning example of the storyteller's craft from Rosalind Miles, author of the beloved and bestselling Guenevere trilogy.

The Raven Queen


Jules Watson - 2011
      She was born to be a pawn, used to secure her father’s royal hold on his land. She was forced to advance his will through marriage—her own desires always thwarted. But free-spirited Maeve will no longer endure the schemes of her latest husband, Conor, the cunning ruler of Ulster. And when her father’s death puts her homeland at the mercy of its greedy lords and Conor’s forces, Maeve knows she must at last come into her own power to save it. With secret skill and daring, Maeve proves herself the equal of any warrior on the battlefield. With intelligence and stealth, she learns the strategies—and sacrifices—of ruling a kingdom through treacherous alliances. And to draw on the dangerous magic of her country’s oldest gods, Maeve seeks out the wandering druid Ruan, whose unexpected passion and strange connection to the worlds of spirit imperil everything Maeve thought true about herself—and put her at war with both her duty and her fate.

My Mother Wore a Yellow Dress


Christina McKenna - 2004
    A remarkable memoir which is often humorous and ultimately very moving as a young Catholic girl struggles to break away from destructive influence of her father in 1960s Ulster.

Kitchen Canary


Joanne C. Parsons - 2017
     Boston 1868...At the insistence of her parents, sixteen-year-old Katie O'Neil reluctantly left her beloved Galway. She joined her cousin, Moira Murphy to work as a nanny and domestic. In mid-nineteenth century Boston, Irish domestics were often referred to as Kitchen Canaries and considered property of their employers. The young women are violated by their employer, Charles Brennan. Their shame and guilt is so great, they keep the abuse a secret even from each. When Katie becomes pregnant, Charles Brennan's victims, Moira, his wife Rose, and the negro household help, bond together to hide the newborn. In this post-Civil War era, Boston is bustling with change as wealthy Englishmen and Boston Brahmins expand world trade routes, build railroads and develop land. Immigrants from Ireland, Italy and Poland establish neighborhoods, existing in overcrowded, disease-ridden shacks and tenements. They, and negroes flocking North, suffer hate, humiliation and rejection from the establishment. The only value they have to the rich Bostonians is their willingness to work for little money performing menial or back-breaking, dangerous jobs on the docks, and building railroads. This story is about the goodness of others, black, white, Irish and English whose strength prevails to overcome evil and guide Katie and Moira to true redemption. The sequel, Through the Open Door is now available.

The King's Druidess


Sky Purington - 2007
    If the Gods of Ireland request that she couple with the king, so be it. If it is also their wish that he marry another woman, who is Chiomara, a simple Druid, to stand in their way? Erc Breac, king of the Dalriada, can only think of Chiomara. Her beauty is surreal and the tales that follow her across the land unsurpassed. But that is not enough when faced with the obligations of a king. His people must come first. His future wife and queen, Macha, must come first. Yet, fate is a slippery thing. Will Erc risk the whole of his kingdom for what lays in his heart?This story contains strong sexual content and is recommended for a mature audience.The King’s Druidess is the lead-in tale to The MacLomain Series. While The King’s Druidess is a short Celtic story, Fate’s Monolith (The MacLomain Series- Book 1), Destiny’s Denial (The MacLomain Series- Book 2) and Sylvan Mist (The MacLomain Series- Book 3) are full length novels. “Purington weaves an enchanted tale of love, magic, and sacrifice that will leave you wanting more!” ~Rynne Raines, author of The Awakening“This story is suggestive, and haunting. It is carried by the power of desire, the power of passion, and the power of desperation. There is a richness here that is hard to convey.” ~Nancy A. Lindley- GauthierPlease NOTE: This is a re-launch of titles published years ago. The stories have been revised and tightened. And as aforementioned, the sensual heat level for all four has been turned way up.