Flame Over Tara

On the bright spring day she learned she was to return home to be married, fourteen-year-old Macha thought with pleasure of her well-ordered life. Home - to the green Hill of Tara, to the fine halls of the High King Leary - to her parents and to the bridegroom they had chosen for her.

But on that same spring day began the unfolding of the ancient prophecy that was to change her life and the lives of all Ireland.

The year was A.D. 432, and Patrick, first Bishop from Rome to Ireland, arrived in a pagan land whose spiritual life was completely in the power of the Druid Priests and their "magic." A mild, warm-hearted, humorous man, Patrick, with his handful of followers, began what seemed an impossible task.

For all her training by the Druids, show more Macha found herself strangely drawn by Patrick's words. Torn between the new ideas and the bright, safe life planned for her, Macha struggled to find a way to resolve her future. show less

This one basically is a fictionalized account of the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland in A.D. 432. For those who don't know the tradition, Patrick was a British lad who was kidnapped, taken to Ireland and enslaved there. After a number of years he escaped, but then later returned to bring his faith to the Irish people. His return is where the book begins and how he's accepted, or not, fills out the tale. It's an enjoyable read, though Ms. Polland seems to take pains to explain away any supernatural element of the traditional accounts. Despite that small distraction though, it made for a nice way to fill an afternoon.
--J.