The Sister Song series is a 6-book collection of historical fiction novels about Wise Women. They follow the lives and deaths of Wise Women from the 1500s in Ireland and England to the 1700s in America. (And perhaps beyond…who knows?)
Book 1: Sile – The Blind Seer
Available now on Amazon here!
Sile: Irish Gaelic – Sounds like: (SHEE-lay)
Meaning: “She who sees the unseen”
Historical Perspective:
1603 is a pivotal year in both England and Ireland. Elizabeth I is dead. Her nephew James (son of Bloody Mary and King of Scotland) takes the throne. While he is NOT a papist, as was his mother, he IS a religious fanatic and has an obsession with eliminating witches. For the first time, witch executions come to Ireland and Sile is declared a witch.
The Witch Hunt Series
The second offerings in the Sister Song Series comprises 3 books: “Infamous Witness”, “Doomed Soothsayer”, and “Daughter of the Moon”. They follow the life of Jenett Device from her infamous testimony during the Pendle Witchcraft Trial, her interlude in Wales as an apprentice Wise Woman, and finally her last years of life as an Abenaki Healer in the Colonies.
Book 2: Jenett – Infamous Witness
Planned Release: Summer 2026
Jenett Device was the sole survivor of the infamous Pendle Witchcraft Trials. After being tortured, her directed testimony against her entire family and Pendle neighbors condemned 11 women and men to death by hanging.
She was only nine when she testified and previously would not have been allowed to testify since children were officially deemed “unreliable witnesses”. James I of England, a religious zealot and rabid “witch hunter”, changed all that and she was forced to testify. She “officially; disappeared from all public records immediately following the trial and there is no record of her life or death after the trial. This book is an imagining of her life from 1603 to 1614.
Book 3: Gwrach – Doomed Soothsayer
Planned Release: Spring 2027
Book 3 of the Witch Hunt series picks up on Jenett’s life once she escapes the constant emotional and physical attacks after the trial. Sent to Wales by a well-meaning Puritan farmer, she finds herself in another abusive situation. With nowhere to go, she resigns herself to her fate until word gets out of the “witch” who is living as a servant.
She is rescued by Wilfrin – a Wise Woman we initially meet in “Sile the Blind Seer”. During her time as Wilfrin’s apprentice, she learns the ways of the wise and becomes not only a talented healer, but also a much respected and feared soothsayer, now renamed Gwrath.
However, once again there are continued attempts to label Gwrath (aka: Jenett) as a witch. Wilfrin determines she cannot guarantee her apprentice’s safety and arranges for her to join the family of Reverend Stephen Bachiller for the trip to the Colonies.
Book 4: Nokomis – Daughter of the Moon
Planned Release: Fall 2027
Gwrath (Jenett) falls in love with one of Stephen’s sons and becomes pregnant. What might have been a joyous event becomes a death sentence and she is eventually sold into slavery.
Her lover arranges for her to escape and Gwrath joins the Abenake Tribe as a Healer. She is given the name “Nokomis” and lives an adventurous life with various exploratory journeys in the New World.
In the end, she returns to Agamenticus (current day York, Maine) to die. But even her death is not simple. There is much anger and disagreement about where and how she should be buried. The outcome is unusual.
The Grace of God Series
The final books of the Sister Series are offered in two parts: “Grace – Gift of God” and “Ezile – VooDoo Queen
Book 5: Grace – Gift of God
Planned Release: Summer 2028 TBD
TBD
Book 6: Ezile – VooDoo Queen
TBD
Sister Song 