The Coffee Pot Blog tour for The Scots of Dalriada by Rowena Kinread
Book Title: The Scots of Dalriada
Author: Rowena Kinreead
Publication Date: January 26th, 2023
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Pages: 287
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Scots of Dalriada
By Rowena Kinread
THREE BROTHERS
Fergus, Loarn and Angus, Princes of the Dalriada, are forced into exile by their scheming half-brother and the druidess Birga One-tooth.
THREE FATES
Fergus conceals himself as a stable lad on Aran and falls helplessly in love with a Scottish princess, already promised to someone else. Loarn crosses swords against the Picts. Angus designs longboats.
TOGETHER A MIGHTY POWER
Always on the run the brothers must attempt to outride their adversaries by gaining power themselves. Together they achieve more than they could possibly dream of.
Fergus Mór (The Great) is widely recognised as the first King of Scotland, giving Scotland its name and its language. Rulers of Scotland and England from Kenneth mac Alpín until the present time claim descent from Fergus Mór.
Full of unexpected twists and turns, this is a tale of heart-breaking love amidst treachery, deceit and murder.
Read an Excerpt:
When they return from Brodick, Bethaccompanies them. The two women, best of friends, have been through muchtogether. Rhianna talks of the loss of Eòghann. Beth is certain that there hasbeen foul play, but she cannot imagine how or what. She doesn’t speak out; shedoesn’t want to agitate Rhianna.
When Rhianna realises she is with child again,she frets and cannot sleep.
“I’m worried Beth, I’m terrified thebaby might have some inexplicable disease and die again.”
“The monk said you needn’t be worried;you have two healthy children.”
“I can’t help myself, I brood on it,day and night.”
“Well how about some distraction? Todayis market day, shall we walk down to town?”
“That is a good idea.”
The two women wander along the rows ofmarket stalls, selling everything from foodstuffs and live animals to ribbonsand knives. In one corner of the market, they see an old lady with just onesmall table and a few cheeses. She has a crooked back and is dressed in rags.Rhianna nudges Beth.
“The poor dear, we should buy a cheesefrom her.”
They approach her table. She hasprepared a plate with small pieces of cheese for people to taste before buying.She holds the plate out towards Rhianna and Beth, her hand shakes with theeffort.
Will you try a piece of wildgarlic cheese, my Ladies?” she asks.
Rhianna notices she has only one toothleft in her mouth.
They both take a small piece and chewit carefully. “Why it is absolutely delicious,” Rhianna compliments the woman.“We must buy one, Beth.”
Beth agrees and starts to pick a cheeseup from the table.
“No,” the woman says, reaching downbelow the table and retrieving a cheese from a box. “It has been in the sun,take this one!”
Beth puts the cheese in her basket andthe women continue on their way. Birga-One-tooth keeps a sharp eye on them.Once they are out of view, she packs her things up quickly, and goes to theharbour where a boat is waiting for her.
“I told you Rhianna would come to themarket sooner or later,” she tells Cartan.
They had come to the market for fiveweeks running and today finally been rewarded with Rhianna’s presence.
“I hope that the whole family eats fromit,” Cartan replies. “Soldiers hiss the sails! We must depart quickly.”
Back at the castle, Rhianna and Bethput their basket of shopping on the table. Rhianna cuts some bread, whilst Bethpours them two mugs of ale.
They sit down and have just begun toeat, as Lisanda runs in screaming, “Mother, Mother come quickly, the boys arefighting again!”
Rhianna sighs, stands up and follows her.Tudwal is pulling Domangart’s hair and Domangart is kicking Tudwal.
“Stop it, the two of you, stop it atonce!” she tells them off. Suddenly an agonising pain rips through her body.She grips her stomach and falls to the floor.
“Mother!” The children stop fightingand run out of the room to find help, a monk, a healer, an adult, anyone.Racing through the kitchen they see Beth lying on the floor in a pool of vomit.They hold their breath a second, then run outside screaming.
Rhianna drifts in and out ofconsciousness. Sometimes she thinks she hears someone speaking to her. Shetries to open her eyes, but her vision rotates and her head thumps.
Fergus holds her hand.
Will she recover?” he asks the monktending to her. Rhianna has lost her baby and has a high fever. She has beenhallucinating for two days now.
“If we can reduce her fever, yes. Ihave tried to give her elderberry juice, just a drop at a time, but she cannothold it down.”
“What can I do?”
“Nothing. Luckily, she didn’t eat asmuch of the cheese as Beth.”
“And it was poisoned with lily of thevalley?”
“It might have been an accident; the leavesare very similar to those of wild garlic.”
“My men questioned every stallholder. Nobodyknows who the woman is, she had only just started selling her cheeses at themarket. But the strange thing is that she hasn’t been seen since.”
“It is lucky no one else has beenharmed.”
“That is what makes mesuspicious.”
Rhianna’s eyes flutter open. “Fergus?”she asks.
“Yes, I’m here, I’m with you,” he says.
“I’m thirsty,” she says.
The monk gives her a sip of water. Shekeeps it down.
Universal Link: Amazon CA: Amazon AU:
Rowena Kinread grew up in Ripon, Yorkshire with her large family and a horde of pets. Keen on travelling, her first job was with Lufthansa in Germany.She began writing in the nineties. Her special area of interest is history. After researching her ancestry and finding family roots in Ireland with the Dalriada clan, particularly this era.
Her debut fiction novel titled “The Missionary” is a historical novel about the dramatic life of St. Patrick. It was published by Pegasus Publishers on Apr.29th, 2021 and has been highly appraised by The Scotsman, The Yorkshire Post and the Irish Times.
Her second novel “The Scots of Dalriada” centres around Fergus Mór, the founder father of Scotland and takes place in 5th century Ireland and Scotland. It is due to be published by Pegasus Publishers on Jan.26th, 2023.
The author lives with her husband in Bodman-Ludwigshafen, Lake Constance, Germany. They have three children and six grandchildren.
Website: Twitter: Facebook: LinkedIn: Instagram:
