The Healing Tree

Ireland, 1546, and Saoirse Brennan, now Chieftain, is saddled with the care of ten-year-old Edmund Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII. The dying king has named nine-year-old Edward Tudor as his successor, but palace intrigues to control the future boy-king have already started. Caught between ensuring Edmund's safety and protecting her own people, Saoirse confronts soldiers sent by the Earl of Warwick, the outrage of an English Bishop, and the political manoeuvrings of the English Lord Protector of Ireland. But a greater threat comes when a seafarer dying of the plague is left on the shores of her home. Set against the tapestry of Celtic Ireland, The Healing Tree weaves Irish legends, know-how, and magic with threads of English history during a fraught and turbulent time.