THE MAEVE CHRONICLES: THE PASSION OF MARY MAGDALEN by Elizabeth Cunningham

THE MAEVE CHRONICLES: THE PASSION OF MARY MAGDALEN
ELIZABETH CUNNINGHAM
Fiction
Monkfish Book Publishing Company
ISBN# 0-9766843-2-2
$24.95 Hardcover

Rating: 5 Enchantments

Maeve Rhuad was born to be a great hero. She was given life on Tir na mBan, the mystical Isle of Woman. The warrior women of Tir na mBan counted eight, and all eight were Maeve Rhhuad’s mother. Maeve suckled from all eight sets of breasts, and they taught her to control the weather, the art of weaponry, and battle. Most of all, they taught her what it is to be a woman, and to celebrate all that is a woman - never to be ashamed of anything that is woman. Finally, when she reached full womanhood and had her first woman’s blood, she was to be turned over to the Cailleach, where she would be retuned to the Great Mother Earth and born again from the Great Mother to better understand what her purpose is to be. When the Great Mother returned her to The Callieach, She did all She could to prepare Maeve for what would be her new life.

Maeve Rhuad was to be sent to the Holy Isles to study with the Druids to learn the history of her people. While there, she would meet the person she believed to be her destiny. While trying to force the winds of fortune, Maeve Rhuad was on a journey of self-discovery. You would think that, bestowing eight mothers to one child, the Gods would have known that even with as many oracles doing all they could to keep Maeve Rhuad safe from herself and others, a young woman that headstrong and stubborn needed more help than even the Gods themselves could give to stay out of trouble, and save herself and the one she had proclaimed as her destiny.

I found the way the author allowed her character to tell her own story quite interesting. Once I settled down to this book, I found it hard to put down, and quite liberating as a woman. She was able to make me cry not so much for her character but for the pain of women as a whole. I have definitely learned my lesson about judging a book by its cover. This book has more of a Celtic feel than a biblical one, and my only regret is that I waited as long as I did to finally pick it up. It ended up being a wonderful read.

Vee
ENCHANTING REVIEWS
July 2007