In late January 2019 one of the owners at MJudson Booksellers in Greenville, SC highly recommended The Lost Queen to me but for some reason, I ended up choosing other titles.

Fast forward, six months later, I met Patti Callahan Henry and, during our brief conversation, she highly recommended this historical EPIC novel sooooooo…

Okay. Fine. I bought it. #and4more

And wow! I am grateful. Normally, I don’t gravitate toward this particular type of historic fiction but discovering the author was inspired as a child by Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Madeleine L’Engle was enough motivation to try a something slightly out of my grown-up-reading-comfort-zone.

Raise your hand if you can identify. Thank you.

Signe Pike crafts a sweeping and intense tale set in sixth-century Scotland. Several reviews suggest if you enjoyed Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander or Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon then The Lost Queen has your name all over it.

I’ve read NEITHER of those books and just like a cliche, “I could not put this book down.”

I enjoyed it so much, I downloaded the audio version too. It’s inordinately more fun to run errands while someone else reads you a story.

And if better if the narrator has a killer Scottish accent.

“Intensely absorbing from the first page to the last, The Lost Queen will take you to a distant time, rescuing a passionate and brave woman from obscurity and reclaiming her place in one of the most enduring legends of all time.”

(SimonandSchuster.com)

What I especially liked about this book:

• Impeccably well-researched (trips to historic sites in Scotland, interviews with archaeologists and modern-day Christian monks).
• An excellent Reading Group Guide (interview with the author included)
• Author Signe Pike lives in South Carolina
• It’s a trilogy! But if that’s not your thing, relax, you’ll enjoy it as a “stand-alone”
• Available in paperback, which is always good for the beach
  

Now I absolutely HAVE to go to Scotland.

If you’ve already read The Lost Queen, please tell me what you think. If this review prompts you to read it, please reach out by email or in the comments. And lastly, have you been to Scotland? I really, truly want to know. . .

Happy Reading!