Showing results by narrator "Ruth Urquhart" in All Categories

This boxed set includes books 1-4 in the the Deverry series: Daggerspell, Darkspell, The Bristling Wood, and The Dragon Revenant.

Tressa Middleton made UK history when she became Britain's youngest mum in 2006 aged just 12 years and eight months. Her case provoked shock and outrage - but the truth behind the headlines was far sadder than anyone could ever have imagined. Born into a life of poverty and neglect, Tressa was forced to grow up fast when was she taken into care at just four years old. She was returned to her mother's chaotic world, but by the age of seven, she was being abused by her own brother and at 11 years old she fell pregnant with his child. For years she kept his dark secret in an attempt to hold her family together until the truth threatened to destroy her completely.

Covering the Ice Age to the recent Scottish Referendum, the acclaimed historian and author explores the history of the Scottish nation. Focusing on key moments such as the Battle of Bannockburn and the Jacobite risings, Moffat also features other episodes in history that are perhaps less well documented. From prehistoric timber halls to inventions and literature, Moffat's epic explores the drama of battle, change, loss, and innovation interspersed with the lives of ordinary Scottish folk, the men and women who defined a nation.

Katharine Kerr opens new territory, exploring the history of the Elcyion Lacar, the elves who inhabit the country west of Deverry. It is years since the half-elven Lord Rhodry took the throne of Aberwyn. When Rhodry's lost lover, Jill—now a powerful wizard—comes and tells him it's time he accepted his elven heritage, Rhodry faces the most difficult choice of his life. With Jill's help and that of a human wizard named Aderyn who has lived for years in the westlands, Rhodry begins to understand how his life is connected not just to his own people, but to the Elcyion Lacar as well.

Eighteenth-century Scotland is famed for generating many of the enlightened ideas which helped to shape the modern world. But there was in the same period another side to the history of the nation. Many of Scotland's people were subjected to coercive and sometimes violent change, as traditional ways of life were overturned by the "rational" exploitation of land use. The Scottish Clearances is a superb and highly original account of this sometimes terrible process, which changed the Lowland countryside forever, as it also did, more infamously, the old society of the Highlands.

The tenuous balance of the Isle of Cadence is under threat from Bane, the spirit of the north wind. In the west, Adaira struggles to find her place. And, though magic blooms there, the spirits suffer beneath Bane’s harsh power, felt in every gust of wind. In the east, Jack Tamerlaine is adrift without Adaira, until he acquires a mission destined to lead him back to her. But among the Tamerlaines sickness is spreading and Torin desperately strikes a bargain with the spirits—a folly at any time.

The second book in the thrilling new DI Haig crime series, by best-selling author David J. Gatward.

In my world, magic and danger go hand-in-hand. It has from my earliest memory. Magic was currency, and if you have it, you have power. I was shaped by some of the most influential Druids into a lethal weapon. Their weapon. Until the night they betray me—and I wind up in the hands of my enemy. He's nothing but a job for me. To him, I'm the key to finding his father. Too bad I know nothing. But right now, he's the only thing keeping me alive, so I'll do whatever it takes. Yet, if we're going to survive, it means doing it together.

When Glasgow journalist Shona McGilvery moves with her partner Mikey and their baby to an idyllic cottage in rural Scotland, they believe that all that lies ahead of them is happiness. But with Mikey working offshore, the frightening isolation of the Aberdeenshire countryside begins to drive her insane.... That is, until she is rescued by a new friendship with the enchanting Valentina. She has the perfect home, the perfect man, and a charismatic new best friend - or does she? As her fairytale life begins to unravel, the deep dark wood becomes the least of her fears....

Enchantments run deep on the magical Isle of Cadence: gossip is carried by the wind, plaid shawls can be as strong as armour and the smallest cut of a knife can instil fathomless fear. The capricious spirits that live there find mirth in the lives of the humans who call the land home, but that mischief turns to malevolence as girls begin to go missing. Adaira, heiress of the East, knows the spirits only answer to a bard’s music, enticing them to return the missing girls. But there’s only one bard capable of drawing the spirits forth by song: her childhood enemy, Jack Tamerlaine.

The final chapter begins in the holy city as it rises from the ashes of Deverry's long wars. Prince Maryn prepares to claim the high kingship, but still the rebel Boar clan stands fast against him. And at court, his illicit passion for the young dweomer apprentice, Lilli, threatens to revive a curse that only she—at her own peril—can lift. It is a drama that will be played out centuries later in the city of Cerr Cawnen. Among the many who take refuge in the lakeside citadel, nestled in a volcano's shadow, are a Westfolk band guided by the elven enchantress Dallandra.

The Horsekin are assembling along Prince Dar's northern border, and the Deverry alliance doesn't have the men or resources to prevent their enemies from moving into the wilderness areas known as the Ghostlands. But then the Dwrgi folk and the dragons come to Dar's aid, tipping the balance in their favor and offering Dar's people a chance to defeat the Horsekin once and for all.

A year ago, Sabella Lockhart lived in sheltered gentility as the sister of a Scottish lord. Then her brother's shocking crimes came to light, leaving her with nothing but horrifying memories, unpayable debts, and a blackened name. Before she leaves Scotland, she must face the family he harmed most: the MacPhersons. But when a Highland robbery takes everything but the gown on her back, she's forced to accept help from the MacPherson who despises her more than any other. The one man she can't forget.

"A dagger laid against our throat." Such is the description Prince Dar of the Weslands uses for Zakh Gral, a new fortress built by the Horsekin, the ancient enemies of his people. To help him destroy this threat, the elven prince has called upon his allies: the dwarven folk of the northern mountains and the human men of Deverry to the east. Their leaders know that if the Westlands fall to the Horsekin, their own throats will feel that dagger next. Joining them are two powerful dragons, who have their own bitter reasons to hate the Horsekin.

The city of Cengarn is under siege. Armies both astral and physical are massing for and against the goddess Alshandra, who seeks to prevent the birth of one fate-bound child. It falls to the dweomermaster Jill and her allies to protect the child's human mother, Princess Carra—and Deverry's already foretold future—by magic and by might. But as the warrior Rhodry wings toward the battle on dragonback, he cannot know that soon he will face his ancient enemy, Alshandra's high priestess Raena, who will use any means to destroy him.

An almost limitless archive of our history lies hidden inside our bodies, and this book traces the ancient story of Scotland from that scientific viewpoint. The mushrooming of genetic studies, of DNA analysis, is rewriting history in spectacular fashion. In Scotland: A Genetic Journey, Alistair Moffat explores the history that is printed on our genes, and in a remarkable new approach, uncovers the detail of where Scots are from, where they have journeyed, and who they are - and in so doing, vividly colors in a DNA map of Scotland.

Orphaned by a cholera epidemic, Neb and his young brother are sent to the desolate farm of their last living relative. But when the savage Horsekin tribes begin raiding the villages along Deverry's western border, the brothers must flee for their lives. A chance encounter with Salamander—a bard and master of dweomer magic—proves their salvation, as he brings them to the shelter of Tieryn Cadryc's dun. Here Neb finds love with his soulmate Branna only to be dragged into a war for the very survival of the kingdom.

Take a journey through the magickal folk traditions of Scotland. Barbara Meiklejohn-Free, a Scottish hereditary witch, shares her own spiritual awakening into the craft and shows you how to integrate these practices into your own life. Discover the secrets of divination, scrying, faery magick, and communication with ancestors. Explore herb and plant lore and specific rituals to address what you most desire. Filled with inspiring anecdotes, craft history, and step-by-step instructions, this book will help you begin a new chapter of spiritual discovery.

Cathal MacNachton and Connall MacAdie are cousins bound by far more than blood ties and the rugged Highland landscape their clan calls home. The ancient curse of their ancestry has fated them to live by night with an unquenchable thirst that neither can tame. The only thing that can save their souls is marriage to Outsiders - mortals whose untainted blood will weaken the curse in their children and break the chains of fear that have made their clan a breed apart.

Once a hopeless wallflower, Clarissa Meadows blossomed into a beauty for a single splendid season—only to catch the eye of a madman bent on possessing her. Now, she must flee where he'll never follow: a friend's house in the Scottish Highlands. Except he does follow. And Clarissa has nowhere left to run.