Ancient Memories

About the Book

It is the mid-1600s and Elizabeth O’Suilleabhain feels isolated after the mysterious death of her father, an Irish-born knight who resided in Spain under the protectorate of the kings for nearly sixty years. Driven to fulfill her father’s duty to free Ireland from English rule and claim her title and inheritance from her elderly grandmother, Elizabeth dons a commoner disguise and escapes atop her Arabian stallion. Convinced the king has banished her after a palace servant is poisoned, Elizabeth flees across Spain, chased by those determined to use her as a pawn to control the land and possessions that connect her to hundreds of years of ancestral rule in her family’s lost homeland. After confronting many obstacles, she heads for Ireland aboard a ship to meet her grandmother, unaware of two secret advocates who follow her at a distance: a Spanish knight and an Irish nobleman whose family has an ancient link with the O’Suilleabhain clan. Unknown to each other, these two allies advance separately, seemingly drawn by mysterious sources as Elizabeth endures one tumultuous event after another. In this compelling tale based on seventeenth century events, a young woman is plunged into the darkest period of her life after she becomes the prey in an international triangle between two kingdoms.

About the Author

Isabella Macdonald Smith grew up in Rhode Island and spent summers at her family’s home on Bonnet Shores. She draws inspiration for her writing from her grandmother Elizabeth O’Sullivan, who, at age sixteen, emigrated from County Cork, Ireland to Rhode Island. Isabella is married with two children and five grandchildren.