Synopsis
In Morgan Llywelyn's The Horse Goddess we follow the life of a daughter of a Keltoi Chieftan. Epona loves her home in the Blue Mountains. She has spent many long hours daydreaming that handsome Govnu, the most skilled and revered smith in all the clans, will break tradition by taking her as his wife. She wants nothing more than to stay in the Blue Mountains and be a good wife.
This story begins on the night of her womanhood ceremony. Amidst swirling smoke and the mysterious Druii (magical and spiritual leaders of the clan) Epona searches for the path to maturity. She fearlessly snarls back into the face of Cernunnos, the shape-shifting Head Druii, during the ceremony, although neither of them has ever understood the blind animosity and compelling forces rife between them.
With the warmer weather, traders will soon be coming to the Blue Mountain, for only they have control of the mountains salt mine and only Govnu can work the starmetal (iron) with such skill. Rigatona, Epona's grasping and self-absorbed mother, is eager to trade her off for a good brideprice. She does not understand Epona's reluctance, but is even more thrilled once she is approached by the powerful and repellant Head Druii. Cernunnos begins to suspect that Epona may be one of those rare individuals born with the powers of the Druii, and the power-hungry Shapeshifter would be well pleased to see her join their lodge and swell their powers even more.
Author
New York-born author Morgan Llywelyn is one of the world's leading popular chroniclers of Celtic culture and history. A prolific storyteller, she has written more than twenty books over the past two decades. Her fiction has received several awards and has sold more than 40 million copies, and she herself is recipient of the 1999 Exceptional Celtic Woman of the Year Award from Celtic Women International.
In the words of Judith A. Gifford of the reference publication Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers, "Drawing on the history and lore that are part of her own heritage, the works of Morgan Llywelyn concern themselves with Celtic heroes and heroines, both real and mythical, bringing them and the times they inhabited to life with stunning clarity." Pauline Morgan, writing in the St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers, has explained, "[t]he majority of Morgan Llywelyn's books may be regarded as fictional biographies. Each book takes a person, often historical or legendary, and relates the story of their life. Most of the novels with a fantasy connection rely heavily on Celtic mythology, particularly that of the Irish.
Morgan Llywelyn now lives outside of Dublin, Ireland, and has become an Irish citizen.
