about the book
The Owen lands stand in the shadow of the Black Castle in the country of Wales. The Black Castle is owned by the powerful, aristocratic deCourey family. Descendants of the longbow archers of Nanteos, the Owens have owned their land for centuries, acquiring it in exchange for protecting the Crown with their archery skills. The land, however, originally belonged to the deCourey’s estate. Needless to say, a rivalry has defined the two families ever since.
Fifteen-year-old Merry Owen is the current Longbow Girl, trained by her father in spite of an injury that left her blind in one eye. Her best friend, James deCourey, would rather be a soccer star than heir to the Black Castle estate. The Owen estate falls on hard times, a situation the deCourey family hopes to take full advantage of.
Exploring the woods one day, Merry discovers a chest that contains an ancient book in a burial plot. She hopes the book might be the key to solving her family’s financial woes. Instead, the book contains a riddle tied to the reign of King Henry VIII. Merry and her friend James travel back in time where she discovers she must compete in an archery competition to defend her family’s legacy.
James and Merry become entangled in the treachery and rivalries of their 16th Century families. The danger doesn’t only lie in the past. The deCourey family and a wicked archeologist want to get their hands on the chest and book. Why?
about the author
Linda Davies life is as strange as her fiction. And her fiction is as thrilling as her life.
In September of 2005, Linda Davies had written the beginnings of a story about a boy who steals a sailboat and sets off in the hopes of rescuing his parents. Six weeks later, while out sailing in the Arabian Gulf, Linda was kidnapped by Iranian Government forces and held hostage for two weeks. Luckily, her three children did not have to set sail to rescue her. The United Kingdom government intervened, and she was released on November 11, 2005.
“Be careful what you write,” Linda jokes. It may just come true.
While no other scenes in her novels have played out in real life (thank goodness), she certainly uses her life experience to propel her novels. Linda says she is a “half Welsh, half Danish, half Celt, and half Viking,” who loves legends, myths, and fierce, independent women. She spent seven years as an investment banker in New York, London, and eastern Europe and used much of her knowledge in the adult thrillers she has written.
She’s also lived in Peru for three years, where she once found herself in the middle of a firefight in Lima. Imagine the realism of the gunfire scenes in her books! Linda lived in Dubai (where she was kidnapped) for eight years and based a series of young adult novels on the regions’ legends of the djinn, or “genies” as we know them.
These days, she sometimes swims in the sea near her Suffolk, England, home until she turns blue. She lives and writes there with her children, husband, and a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Boudicca.
Source:
Author website
Author biography: Goodreads
Author spotlight: Exeter
Author interview: Chicken House Books
Author interview: TimeOut Dubai
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