I found the relationship between Mr. Otto and Julia Darling touching. The subtlety with which their friendship develops, their conflicts, their generosity was moving and I will remember them for a very long time. I read the details of the amazing stove with delight.

This book is humorous, exciting, challenging, informational and, without a doubt, inspirational as well as well-written. I set aside my preconceived notions of this particular religious group and thoroughly enjoyed the book as a humane, emotionally satisfying tale of the human condition.

I believe I will read this book again and find something new from each reading. Mr. Otto’s governing principle will be mine from this moment. Borrowed Light is a compelling read, a book I can heartily recommend as an adventure/romance/inspirational/western novel.

Some may find the religious content difficult to navigate but if you can see LDS/Mormon theology in its historic context, the events and the drama of religious persecution speak to so many.

Dwynwen rejects the attentions of her lover.

enthusiasts gather in clubs, pubs and halls to revel in the magic of his timeless verse. There is another reason for celebration on this cold, sometimes dreary day. To Welsh lovers, it is a day for chocolate, flowers and love spoons, candlelit meals and stolen kisses.

January 25^th is Dydd Santes Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of lovers. A fortnight after the Old New Year – Yr Hen Galan (still celebrated in parts of Wales in the traditional way) – we celebrate love and romance. And here is why:

Dwynwen, the daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog, a chieftain of Powys, fell in love with a youth by the name of Maelon. Although she loved this young man, she rejected his amorous attentions. According to legend, God appeared to Dwynwen and offered her a sweet drink. When she drank it, her love for Maelon was dispelled.

When Maelon also drank the sweet liquid, he was turned to ice. The injustice of his fate – for no other crime than his love for her – evoked Dwynwen’s pity and she asked for God’s mercy. The youth was revived but Dwynwen had embraced her choice to remain chaste. In sympathy with those, like Maelon, whose love is unrequited, she became the patron saint of lovers and never married.

Dwynwen is known in Cornwall as Adwen – another a daughter of Brychan, one of his twenty-four children.

Dydd Santes Dwynwen has always been celebrated in Wales but, in recent years, greater emphasis has been placed on the 25^th of January as a Welsh occasion for lovers. While St. Valentine’s Day still holds firm, Dwynwen has regained her place – an additional opportunity for couples to declare their love with gifts and romantic evenings.

Dydd Santes Dwynwen Hapus i Bawb!

By 1582, the Julian Calendar had become out of sync by as much as 10 days. The principal concerns were the vernal equinox, Passover and the date on which Easter was to be celebrated. Maintaining the link to the Jewish Passover was essential. On October 5^th, 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decreed the adoption of the new calendar. The 5^th of October became the 15^th, 10 days were lost. (Anyone celebrating their birthday between those dates in 1582 was a year younger in subsequent years.)

The new calendar system was adopted immediately in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Poland. France and Luxembourg followed shortly thereafter. By 1587, most countries of continental Europe had accepted the new dates with the exceptions of Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands. These countries made the transition between 1699 and 1701.

In 1752, in the countries of Britain and in its global colonies, people born between September 4^th and September 14^th missed celebrating their birthdays when the Gregorian Calendar was accepted – with one rural exception.

Boys with their Calennig Apples

On the edge of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, approximately 5.3 miles east of Fishguard along the B4313 and Route 82, is Cwm Gwaun. This small pocket of rural Wales has rejected the Gregorian Calendar and, for the past 430 (or 260 if you count only from 1752) years, this valley community has celebrated the New Year according to the Julian Calendar. By today’s reckoning, on the 13^th of January – Yr Hen Galan (the old new year). This annual event includes children singing traditional songs and making up their own words to old traditional tunes. It is also the time for Hel Calennig – an opportunity for children to extort money from neighbors and relations.

Mi godais heddiw ma’s o’m tŷ
A’m cwd a’m pastwn gyda mi,
A dyma’m neges ar eich traws,
Sef llanw’m cwd â bara a chaws.

(I left my house today
With my bag and my stick,
And here is my message to you,
Fill my bag with bread and cheese.)

The Dyffryn Arms, run by Bessie Davies for over 40 years, is the center of the adults’ celebrations. The Dyffryn Arms has played an essential role in keeping Yr Hen Galan alive into the 21^st Century. At the beginning of this third millennium, residents of Cwm Gwaun, ‘the calendar rebels’ celebrated along with the rest of us but doubled their fun with a second party on 2000-01-13. Although Yr Hen Galan is officially celebrated in this community there are others in Wales which have privately organized community celebrations and there are individuals and family groups who also enjoy this unique festival.

The Mari Lwyd (Gray Mare/Holy Mary) was an integral part of the event. The skull of a horse is mounted on a pole (or a man) and draped with a white sheet. Ribbons, bells and flowers decorate the Mari and this is carried through the village by the wassail-singing group of men. At each house, the men call out the owner with taunting verses and the opponents debate. If the owner is unable to respond with a verse (and this is usually the case because it is, after all, a neighborly entertainment), the Mari Lwyd and her entourage is invited in for food and drink. More singing and wassailing ensues until the Mari Lwyd group moves on to the next obliging neighbor.

Noson Gyflaith (Toffee Evening) is another traditional event at this time of year. In my husband’s family, this frequently ended in disappointment when the toffee pulling had less than outstanding results. Everyone had a hand in the pulling process once the ingredients were brought to exactly the right temperature and consistency. The hot toffee was poured onto a slate slab and the pulling began when members of the family and friends were gathered. A lot of talking and laughing were the most successful result, especially if the toffee never hardened.

Please tell me where you bought your copy and which format you would prefer.

Many thanks for your support.  – Lily

When I first visited the barnacle on the western border of England, I was an Irish patriot, unaware of the murders children in the name of nationalism. Yes, Ireland should be reunited as one island nation but nothing like that is ever accomplished by terrorizing the enemy into believing they will die if unification succeeds. And no, the Scots who populated Northern Ireland at the behest of the English government have no justification for their continued loathing of their Catholic neighbors.

Nor do the Orangemen have a God-given right to march. Nor do the IRA in all its splintered groups nor the Loyalists in all their guises have a Patriotic duty to decimate. Like many Americans of European/British decent, I took up the banner of the undertrodden, blinded by the magic of a Celtic past and a rebellious present.

My journey to Wales (Cymru as its citizens call it – Cymru = compatriot/fellow citizen) was a happenstance. I was in the border town of Chester where it is still legal to kill Welshmen after sunset. Besides the zoo and walking the city wall (erected to keep the neighbors to the west out of their own city), their wasn’t much to do so we took the opportunity of a bus trip to Rhuthun to a Medieval Market Day – medieval being the most attractive aspect of the event. Charming town in northern Wales, close to the English border, good pub food and a few medieval costumes splashed about, the most momentous event for me occurred at the transfer point of the bus ride back. We stood on the concrete platform and behind me two women were talking.

I was gripped by a fierce and unyielding hand. From that moment, nothing in my post-graduate tour to the places I had come to the British Isles to see was the same. My itinerary was abandoned. England no longer held any charms to tempt me. Scotland was a distant memory. Ireland descended to the bottom of my romantic admiration.

On that concrete slab, in the hottest and driest July in memory, two chattering Cymry turned my life upside down. Next stop, Cardiff.

Eliza Knight
A LADY’S CHARADE
Medieval Romance, sizzling
Independently Published
$3.79 for ebook, and $11.96 for Print
http://elizaknight.com/ALadysCharade.aspx
www.elizaknight.com
Across a battlefield, English knight, Alexander, spots the object of his desire–and his conquest, Scottish traitor Lady Chloe. Disguised for her safety, Chloe realizes the man who besieged her home has now become her savior. Alexander suspects Chloe is not who she says she is and has declared war on the angelic vixen who’s laid claim to his heart.

If you would like to have your book listed here, please see my post, Festive Support, for information.

All this month and through the Festive season, I will be featuring your books on my blog. All you have to do is leave a comment on either the latest post or on any of the subjects that interest you.

Once you have done that, send me the following information offloop to my email address: lilydewaruile (at) ymail (dot) com.

Your Name  or Pen Name
“Title of your Book”
{# in Series if appropriate}
{Genre & heat level}
{Publisher}
{Price},
{buy-link for this title}
{your website}
{50 words about this book/ebook/audiobook/etc}

I have to limit this to one book per author and this will get started as soon as I have a book to post.

All the very best,

Lily Dewaruile, Traitor’s Daughter, Eres Books, May 2011

Diolch yn fawr,

Lily

I pose the questions. Scientists and philosophers have pondered the same. What do you think?

Although I would only give this book 3stars overall, I did enjoy reading this on the flight and coach ride from New York to Wales. I had to hide some of the pages from my fellow passengers because the sex scenes are surface-of-the-sun-hot! This was a last minute acquire and definitely one to read again. I particularly appreciated the use of real nouns for anatomical parts rather than crude metaphors.