Hello Everyone! We’re delighted you stopped by! I feel honored to have Miriam Newman, a special lady and dear friend, as my guest today. Miriam was the first author on Celtic Hearts Romance writers who reached out to welcome me, and gave me encouragement to pursue my goal. (At the time, I wasn’t, and continue “not” to be a huge fan of “grammar”). So please help me give Miriam a warm welcome on my site, by leaving your comments!
Miriam: I am so happy to be visiting my friend Patty’s beautiful blog to share my latest release, Dark Child.
I heard this story from my Irish grandmother in the 1950s. It has been told many, many ways over the years, but this is her version. I can still remember sitting at the oilcloth-covered table in her warm kitchen, drinking tea poured from her orange-and-white glazed tea pot into bone china cups she brought with her from Ireland.
She and my grandfather traveled to the U.S. on one of the first steam-powered ships to make the voyage, with her china and crystal safely packed into the hold. I still have two of those cups and a lovely hand painted bowl and wish I had more.
We sat like conspirators, brewing loose-leaf tea, pouring through cup-sized strainers from a pot that had been carefully pre-rinsed and nestled in a tea cosy. Everything about that scene was cozy, even including Petey the canary who always serenaded us. There were a lot of birds named Petey because Nana never told me when one died. She just hustled off to Woolworth’s to buy another, transported home in a little cardboard box she was careful to throw out because she didn’t want me to know my friend Petey was dead.
Those were the days. From them came Dark Child:
“Born at a royal banquet for King Conor MacNessa of Ulster, Deirdre is predicted by Conor’s own druid to be blessed and cursed with a beauty that will make kingdoms contest over her. He names her “Deirdre of the Sorrows” and urges the king to slay her. But Conor, unwilling to murder a babe, takes her under his protection only to fall prey to the curse when she is nearly grown. Captivated by her youth and beauty, the aging king will go to any extreme to possess her.”
You can find more about Miriam’s books at the following links:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073C4KSZW
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-child-miriam-newman/1126646912
http://www.amazon.com/Miriam-Newman/e/B005DBFZUG
AUTHOR BIO: Fantasy poetry driven by myths and legends has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I was published in poetry before catching the romance writing bug. I bring that background to my writing along with a lifelong addiction to horses, an 18 year career in various areas of psychiatric social services and many trips to Ireland, where I nurture my muse. My published works range from contemporary fantasy romance to fantasy historical, futuristic, science fiction and historical romance. Currently I live in rural Pennsylvania with a “motley crew” of rescue animals. You can see my books at www.miriamnewman.com.
Thank you for joining us today, Miriam! What a lovely story about your Irish grandmother! I’m sure everyone looks forward to having you return to share more of your stories with us.
Please feel free to leave a comment for Miriam below. And as always, thanks for stopping in, and until next time, bye for now . . .
Thanks, Patty, for welcoming me to your blog. I always enjoy visiting here!
I’m delighted to have you as my guest! And glad to hear 🙂
Wonderful post! Love hearing about your dear grandmother, Miriam. What incredible memories, and such an interesting legend to inspire your own story.
Thanks for stopping by, Beth! Yes, wasn’t it a lovely story about Miriam’s grandmother and her inspiration for Miriam’s newest book. Delighted you enjoyed the post.
Dark Child sounds wonderful! I loved reading about you and your mom. I can just picture the two conspirators. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Lane! Yes, I can picture this too 🙂
Thanks, everyone, for stopping by. Writing this novella brought back a lot of good memories, for which I’m grateful. And now my Nana’s team won the Super Bowl. She would be pleased! Nobody loved a good party like she did and there will be many in Philadelphia tonight.
Hi Miriam! I loved the story about Petey. What a sweet grandmother and what wonderful memories for when you sit down to have tea.
Hi Julie and thanks for stopping by to visit Miriam!
Thanks, Julie, great to see you.
Your book sounds so interesting. Want to read your take on Deidrie of the Sorrows. And love the old castle photo. Where was it taken?
Thanks for stopping by Mary! The photo of the large castle with the tower is of the
Irish Castle Of Blarney, with is also famous For The Stone Of Eloquence.
Hi, Marry, sorry I didn’t catch you here earlier and I hope you’ll enjoy the book. Patty took some of the photos and I took the ones at the top. Mine is the Rock of Cashel, taken from the bottom looking up. A really impressive place. Blarney is impresisve too if you don’t mind hanging upside down to kiss the stone!