Barbara Erskine - Daughters Of Fire

[maddy321]

I'd been waiting ages for the new book by BARBARA ERSKINE. She is a brilliant Historian and I always feel that she has really done her homework. The background that she sets with descriptions jump alive. The characters are so easy to understand, I feel that I am in the setting with them.

I found myself drawn in by the character of Cartimandua, the Queen of the Brigantes she has been so well written it was very easy to identify with the decisions she had to make during her reign. The author has very cleverly linked the past and the present by making historian Viv Lloyd Rees the link to Cartimandua through an ancient brooch .......Anymore info and I will spoil it for you!

A very good read, I would highly recommend it to anyone.

[megustaleer]

Welcome to BGO, maddy321, and thank you for starting your posting career with a recommendation for a book by an author we have not discussed so far.
I have a query, though. What makes this book suitable for the 'Fantasy & Myth' forum, in preference to 'Historical and Romantic?

Looking forward to hearing more from you.

[dingsy]

Haven't read this particular novel, but in general there is usually an added dimension to Erskine's work, which sets it apart from conventional historical fiction.Rather like Diana Gabaldon, the characters can inhabit different ages, starting in the present and by one means or another, are transported to different times and places. Rather like Dr Who! One for example, "Kingdom of Shadows", is described thus on amazon:

"Barbara Erskine's classic bestseller, the successor to Lady of Hay, at last available as a HarperCollins paperback. In a childless and unhappy marriage, Clare Royland is rich and beautiful -- but lonely. And fueling her feelings of isolation is a strange, growing fascination with an ancestress from the distant past. Troubled by haunting inexplicable dreams that terrify -- but also powerfully compel -- her, Clare is forced to look back through the centuries for answers. In 1306, Scotland is at war. Isobel, Countess of Buchan, faces fear and the prospect of untimely death as the fighting surrounds her. But passionate and headstrong, her trials escalate when she is persecuted for her part in crowning Robert the Bruce, her lover. Duncairn, Isobel's home and Clare's beloved heritage, becomes a battleground for passions that span the centuries. As husband Paul's recklessness threatens their security, Clare must fight to save Duncairn, and to save herself from the powers of Isobel..."

I've enjoyed most of the ones I've read, with the exception of "Whispers in the Sand", which I really didn't like at all.

[FirelightSpirit]

I read a book of short stories by Erskine a few years ago called Sands of Time or something like that. I hated it and will never read another book by her.

[Book-Chatter]

Better late than never, I suppose, fellow-fans - I enjoyed "Daughters of Fire" very much.

I like B.E.'s habit of winding-up the tension and danger, turning friends to foes through the influence of malevolent spirits, weaving the threads of historic lives and present lives together, making us connect with each of the main characters - even the "baddies"!

Maeve of the White Hands was pure evil, even before Carti had her kidnapped to sell into slavery (which she promptly escaped from) and even Venutious, Carti's straying husband didn't deserve being used by her. Venutious came through for Carti in the end, though, even if it was hundreds of years later!

Isn't it always a shock when some of the modern-day characters die in Erskine's books? Three members of the same family seemed a little harsh, to my way of thinking - but what a cracking ending to the story it made!

It took me ages to read this massive novel, but I enjoyed every page and found it hard to put down. Yes - there were a few weak spots, but on the whole the pace and the tension more than made up for it.

Another Erskine for me to cherish, and read many times more.