Daughter of the Shining Isles

Elizabeth Cunningham

Always an imaginative writer, as The Return of the Goddess (1992) and The Wild Mother (1993) attest, in Daughter of the Shining Isles, Cunningham now mixes Celtic mythology with the emergent feminist tradition of the Magdalen to create a powerful, spiritually charged visionary novel. Daughter of the Shining Isles gives us a Mary Magdalen for our times: Maeve, a feisty Celt, raised by warrior witches to a life of heroism. When she arrives on a magical Druid island, she meets her cosmic twin (J)Esus of Nazareth. Together they become embroiled in an adventure of passion, betrayal, and human sacrifice. Sure to stir controversy, it brings fresh insight into the lost years of the young man called Esus, and the vital young woman who was his equal. Profoundly moving and often outrageously funny, Cunningham's new novel is storytelling of the highest caliber. Maeve is sure to claim her place among the great literary heroines of our age.