Stone Stories

"Ambitious and imaginative, believable and compelling." The Scotsman Northern Britain, Iron Age. Pytheas of Massalia, the famed Greek explorer, roves the icy northern lands of Celtic Britain and beyond, in search of amber and other precious goods. But he also craves another encounter with Rian, the slave he fell in love with during a former voyage, who continues to haunt him. Rian, however, has other ideas. She has no desire to see Pytheas, and she won't let go of her family, or her freedom, without a fight. As Pytheas navigates plundered riches, feuding warlords, and an ancient curse, will he succeed in finding what he set out for? In the second volume of this extraordinary, imaginative trilogy, Mandy Haggith takes us back to prehistoric times for an intergenerational saga ranging from the Sub-Arctic to the Mediterranean. The Amber Seeker revisits the unforgettable cast of characters we met in The Walrus Mutterer, weaving another visceral tale of loss, longing, and revenge in 320 BC.

Northern Britain, c. 300 BC. Former slave, indomitable survivor and now matriarch Rian returns with her daughters to her Celtic homeland. She navigates everything from plundered riches and feuding warlords to betrayals and menacing curses. But when a disaster befalls her older daughter mirroring the cruelest events in Rian's own past, Rian finds herself conflicted. A beautifully written, engrossing tale, The Lyre Dancers takes place in a richly imagined world that, despite its distance from our own times, is peopled with characters whose emotions and circumstances we relate to instantly. This is a powerful narrative that challenges our modern views of family, social roles and our place in the environment. Above all, the storytelling soars as grudges, peril and passions take their turn across the pages of this early Celtic saga.