The Silver Gander

Ireland, 1540s. The Silver Gander, set against the tapestry of Celtic society, is a novel about one woman's devotion to her people, amid a web of political intrigue. Saoirse Brennen, a trusted advisor to her chieftain, must walk a careful path when his son murders a local farmer. But that path is overshadowed when the English king, Henry VIII, claims all of Ireland as his own. The treachery of one chieftain and the cunning of another forces Saoirse into an impossible situation: to submit to English subjugation or watch her people lose their livelihoods. Either way, her way-of-life will be destroyed. When Saoirse becomes chieftain, she realizes the ancient laws of the Celts are failing under the burden of change. Navigating impending economic ruin, discriminatory laws, a scattered family, and murderous interlopers, Saoirse builds alliances and calls on old wisdom to find a new path. But there is a piece of her own past that keeps intruding. Her decision to carry her burden alone threatens to turn away the one man who can help her most. The Silver Gander weaves a story of love and determination amid the last vestiges of an ancient society, a story that, centuries later, is unexpectedly familiar.