MarkAlan

I loved this book. Loved loved. It's a young adult novel It's set in the Ireland of early Christianity, when the old ways and the new ways occasionally clashed and occasionally worked together. 

And it's also a true love story, and it really warmed my heart.

And it's a book where all the main characters are suffering from some form of PTSD, and much of the story is about how having the right support group and/or people around you can make a huge difference.

The book is narrated by three different voices: Blackthorn, Grim and Geiléis. This quite often doesn't work, but it does here very well. The author writes the voices very distinctively, and I was never confused about who was narrating, even when I put the book down, then pickéd it up ion the middle of a chapter without remembering.

It's the second book in the Blackthorn/Grim trilogy I haven't read the first, but it didn't at all detract from my enjoyment, and I shall definitely read it, and the next book.

Here's the blurb:

After the strange events of last autumn, healer Blackthorn and her companion Grim have settled back into their everyday life at Winterfalls. But trouble has a way of seeking these two out.

Lady Geiléis of Bann, a noblewoman from the western border, petitions Prince Oran for help. A creature has taken up residence in an old tower on her land. Its constant howling scrambles the thoughts and threatens the sanity of all who live nearby. With the tower situated on an island in the river and surrounded by an impenetrable hedge of thorns, there is no easy solution. The prince asks Blackthorn for advice.

Blackthorn is reluctant to offer practical assistance, since travel to the border could be dangerous for her. But the unexpected arrival of an old friend changes her mind. In company with the scholar Flannan, Blackthorn and Grim accompany Lady Geiléis to Bann.

At the Tower of Thorns, Blackthorn and Grim find a puzzle with many parts. It seems the story Geiléis has told them may not be the whole truth. But the local people are curiously reluctant to talk. While Blackthorn wrestles with the personal dilemma Flannan has brought with him, Grim finds himself face to face with the demons of the past. As they start to put the pieces together, the quest becomes a life and death struggle – a struggle in which even the closest of friends can find themselves on opposite sides.

Highly recommended if you like that sort of thing :)