Rebel’s Knot
(Quest for Three Kingdoms)
By Cryssa Bazos
Ireland 1652: In the desperate, final days of the English invasion of Ireland . . .
A fey young woman, Áine Callaghan, is the sole survivor of an attack by English marauders. When Irish soldier Niall O'Coneill discovers his own kin slaughtered in the same massacre, he vows to hunt down the men responsible. He takes Áine under his protection and together they reach the safety of an encampment held by the Irish forces in Tipperary.
Hardly a safe haven, the camp is rife with danger and intrigue. Áine is a stranger with the old stories stirring on her tongue and rumours follow her everywhere. The English cut off support to the brigade, and a traitor undermines the Irish cause, turning Niall from hunter to hunted.
When someone from Áine's past arrives, her secrets boil to the surface—and she must slay her demons once and for all.
As the web of violence and treachery grows, Áine and Niall find solace in each other's arms—but can their love survive long-buried secrets and the darkness of vengeance?
Publication Date: 8th November 2021
Publisher: W.M. Jackson Publishing
Page Length: 350 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/ Historical Romance
Trigger Warnings: Violence, references to sexual/physical abuse
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MY THOUGHTS
Áine Callaghan had found safety and solace at the Mulriane estate, a place where she needn’t worry about letting her guard down, although with the two housemaids around, the walls Áine has built around herself stay strongly up, unless she is alone with the cows. Telling the cows stories as she milks them is something that soothe both the cows and herself, and on top of taking frequent walks in the woods and keeping to herself as she does, it is hardly surprising that people say she is touched by the Faerie Folk.
Niall O’Coneill has fought with the Irish resistance for nearly ten years, and with his trusty wolfhound, Fionn, by his side, there comes the feeling that nothing can overpower him. But, when he takes a detour to the Mulriane estate, where his sister is staying, everything falls apart around him. He finds the estate ravaged, his aunt, uncle and cousin dead, and his sister and the servants missing.
The one person Niall does find, is the dairymaid, Áine. Refusing to leave her behind, when there is a very grave threat that the English will return to the estate and likely capturing her as well, he, Áine, and Fionn travel away from the estate, leaving the ruins and the English behind.
I absolutely adored Áine. She is a woman who has gone through great trauma and hardship, and has hidden it all away in her past, trying to move on and create a new life for herself. But, her past clings to her, and while she is not opposed to using the rumours about her being a Faerie Queen to her advantage, she is also greatly intimidated by new people coming into her life, and is hesitant to trust others. When Niall rides into her life and whisks her away, her first reaction is to get away from him as soon as possible, to be by herself again, and to live alone. But, with the increasing threat of the English invaders, staying with Niall seems to be the only option and soon, she doesn’t want to be apart from him.
Niall is an incredibly headstrong man, fuelled by his need to avenge his aunt, uncle and cousin, and to find out what happened to his sister, Mairead. But, when Áine enters his life, he finds that he not only has a reason to fight, he also has a reason to stay alive. Knowing that Áine is at the camp, awaiting his return, is enough to push him that little bit harder to protect himself, not to fight without fear, but to fight and to ensure he came out of the battle alive. As the two slowly realise how much they need each other, Áine comes face to face with a man who knows exactly who she is, and when rumours about her begin from his lips, it is clear that, eventually, Niall will find out about her past, and there is nothing she can do to stop it.
Alongside the budding love story, there is the action and violence of the fight between the English, trying to take control of Ireland, and the Irish resistance, pushing back against them and trying to drive the English from their country. The English were brutal, forcing people from their homes, taking and killing without mercy, and those who were left alive lived in a perpetual state of fear, knowing that, at any time, the English might return and take what little they have left.
This book is fit to bursting with description and both the setting and the characters come alive on the page. You can almost feel the chill in the air, smell the smoke from the camp’s fires, hear the chatter of soldiers. You can certainly feel the terror of the English arriving, and the thought that they might appear at any moment, that they might learn of the situation of the camp and launch an attack. This is not a story that you read, but one that you live.
Having read Severed Knot, I knew before Niall and Áine what had happened to Mairead. While this book stands alone, and you do not need to have read the other books in the series to understand this one, there is a connection between the books. Knowing who Mairead was really tied this book into the series for me, and I felt like I was returning to a world I had been long missing.
This is the kind of novel that you do not want to put down, although it is rather long, and I read through it in a matter of days. It is a story of love, danger, betrayal and revenge, and one that I look forward to reading again.
Cryssa Bazos is an award-winning historical fiction author and a seventeenth century enthusiast. Her debut novel, Traitor's Knot is the Medalist winner of the 2017 New Apple Award for Historical Fiction, a finalist for the 2018 EPIC eBook Awards for Historical Romance. Her second novel, Severed Knot, is a B.R.A.G Medallion Honoree and a finalist for the 2019 Chaucer Award. A forthcoming third book in the standalone series, Rebel's Knot, was published November 2021.
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Great book, love Cryssa’s work!
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