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Brigid of Kildare: A Novel Audio CD – MP3 Audio, December 31, 2019
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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 Ireland: 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 day: 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.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAudible Studios on Brilliance Audio
- Publication dateDecember 31, 2019
- Dimensions5.25 x 0.5 x 6.75 inches
- ISBN-101799767124
- ISBN-13978-1799767121
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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 a cum laude graduate of the Boston University School of Law. While practicing as a lawyer, Heather dreamed of a fantastical job unraveling the larger mysteries of time and uncovering the truths lurking in legend and myth -- and found it when she tried her hand at writing. She first wrote the historical novels The Chrysalis and The Map Thief, which will appear in more than ten countries, as well as Brigid of Kildare. She made the transition to young adult fiction with the series Fallen Angel -- and continues it now with The Books of Eva.
Product details
- Publisher : Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio; Unabridged edition (December 31, 2019)
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 1799767124
- ISBN-13 : 978-1799767121
- Item Weight : 2.64 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 0.5 x 6.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #4,293,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,286 in Religious Historical Fiction (Books)
- #33,045 in Books on CD
- #111,315 in Suspense Thrillers
- Customer Reviews:
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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 a cum laude graduate of the Boston University School of Law. While practicing as a lawyer, Heather dreamed of a fantastical job unraveling the larger mysteries of time and uncovering the truths lurking in legend and myth -- and found it when she tried her hand at writing. She first wrote the historical novels The Chrysalis and The Map Thief, which will appear in more than ten countries, as well as Brigid of Kildare. She made the transition to young adult fiction with the series Fallen Angel -- and continues it now with The Books of Eva.
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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.
Also, while I don’t hold fiction to the same standards as history, there was a lot wrong with this book. On the one hand, there was almost no historical detail, no sense of life in the 5th century. Some description other than the bare details of building structures would have helped. And where there was historical detail, much of it was questionable. As often happens in this kind of re-writing of history, early medieval Ireland is painted as a feminist paradise, which it definitely was not (for example, women were legally considered worth less in terms of honor price, couldn’t give testimony in court cases, typically couldn’t inherit property, etc.). Yes, they were arguably better off than women in other places at the time, but that doesn’t make it a modern ideal world for women. Also, while there are few real “facts” that can be established about Brigid, and therefore latitude for creating fiction, most sources say that she was the daughter of the chief and a slave, who was later sold, at the chief’s wife’s insistence, to a druid to raise. Why change this when it is one of the most interesting aspects of her apparent life? And, while it’s trivial, it really annoyed me that the author just decided for some unknown reason (she says she’s doing it in a beginning note but doesn’t explain why she chose it) to use “Gael” as a place name when it isn’t and never was. There were many terms used for Ireland in antiquity, both Latin and Irish, why use one that is not only not accurate but also not even the right part of speech? Gael refers to a group of people, an ethnic identity, not a place. It’s like saying someone journeyed to “American.” It makes no sense.
I feel like there was a good idea for a book here, but it needed a good editor and some further thought.