Brigid's Charge

Rating:
Summary: Interesting read about frontier life
Review: I was originally drawn to this book because of the goddess lore. I enjoyed reading about Deborah and her trip from England to the New World and was intrigued by the Quakers and the hardships of living in a colony. It was interesting to see Deborah think about having another life for herself other than wife and mother. Although the story is plainly told, Deborah had a complexity to her.

What I liked least about the book was, unfortunately, the goddess lore. I found it to be forced and New-Agey. It just did not ring true for me. I think the story would have been better served by not forcing the Old Religion into the plot and kept to the plight of this woman trying to find her self in a new world and having her livelyhood taken away from her.

It also seemed like the ending was a bit over the top. It was exciting but after I read it, it felt like sensationalism. I won't give it away but suffice to say I wish the book concluded with a bit more restraint.

Authors like Marion Zimmer Bradley and Rosalind Miles do a very good job of intergrating goddess lore into their stories. I would recommend this book if you are interested in women of spirit and tales of the frontier.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting read about frontier life
Review: I was originally drawn to this book because of the goddess lore. I enjoyed reading about Deborah and her trip from England to the New World and was intrigued by the Quakers and the hardships of living in a colony. It was interesting to see Deborah think about having another life for herself other than wife and mother. Although the story is plainly told, Deborah had a complexity to her.

What I liked least about the book was, unfortunately, the goddess lore. I found it to be forced and New-Agey. It just did not ring true for me. I think the story would have been better served by not forcing the Old Religion into the plot and kept to the plight of this woman trying to find her self in a new world and having her livelyhood taken away from her.

It also seemed like the ending was a bit over the top. It was exciting but after I read it, it felt like sensationalism. I won't give it away but suffice to say I wish the book concluded with a bit more restraint.

Authors like Marion Zimmer Bradley and Rosalind Miles do a very good job of intergrating goddess lore into their stories. I would recommend this book if you are interested in women of spirit and tales of the frontier.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic, engrossing, most-enjoyable read!
Review: My summary reaction when I finished Brigid's Charge: MORE! Fantastic, a very enjoyable read. Cynthia Lamb has written an excellent tale of colonial life in South Jersey. I highly recomment this book to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: An involving, moving audiobook from first to last.
Review: This unabridged audio with its sturdy plastic case and library-quality lending potential will appeal to a wide audience as it tells of one Deborah Leeds, charged by the Celtic Goddess Brigid to use her powers to heal. Will the Quakers accept a pagan witch as one of them? Deborah's struggle for acceptance creates an involving, moving audio which is hard to quit.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing novel of an early American Quaker witch.
Review: Wonderful period dialogue and authentic detail illuminate this fascinating story about an Irish woman who emigrates to pre-Revolutionary America, and her struggle between paganism and Quaker orthodoxy, between love of her husband & children and her attraction to a woman friend she truly loves. Highly intelligent and dignified treatment of controversial religious, cultural, ethical, and sexual issues in the context of a historical family saga, loosely based on the life of a real person who was an ancestor of the author