The Priest's Wife

<p><strong>Second Book of The Isle Fincara Trilogy</strong></p><p>Awarded a Literary Book Grant by the Books Council of Wales.</p><p>The Priest's Wife is set on an imaginary island somewhere between Scotland and Ireland a thousand years ago and a world away. When her husband the priest dies Morag loses more than her life partner. With him goes her home and her place in the community. In addition to these misfortunes in a society that sets great store by lineage she is challenged about the mysterious identity of her mother and it is this that sets her on a quest of discovery that comes at first upon a blank but in time leads her to the circle of the island's 'Guardians' who mediate her discovery of her mother's identity and step by step her own deeper self-knowing and self-acceptance. </p><p>When Aidan the new priest undertakes a campaign to upturn the township's spirituality which has accommodated older druidical forms alongside the Christ story both he and the community are set on a collision course. As tension builds the shareg (headman) of the town must intervene. Finding no way through that conforms to the norms of his world he must take a radical and unconventional step. </p><p>The book explores mental breakdown (Aidan's) and severe depression (Morag's at the mid-point of the story when she finds herself at an impasse). It reflects religious tensions that have existed historically. It celebrates the natural world and the resilience of the human spirit in resisting a coercive authority. In doing so Morag steps into her full personhood.</p><p> </p><p><br></p><p> </p>