Juliene Osborne-McKnight captured my attention with her first book, I Am of Irelaunde, and her second book has done the same. Daughter of Ireland takes us back to the Ireland of the past. Knowledge of the true God is spreading across Ireland and the people are embracing it as the coming that had been foretold by druids of old. Aislinn herself is a druid priestess who can see into the misty future and knows that she and her people stand on the cusp of a colossal change.

As a priestess of the old ways, Aislinn is afraid to lose not only her grasp on the old ways but her own identity as well. Her past is shrouded in mystery and she ultimately feels the need to search for the answers she must have to maintain her own individuality during this time of great spiritual transition. Danger finds its way to her during her journey, and she feels tempted to turn to this evil to save her way of spiritual life as she knows it. However, the druids had foretold of a great spiritual change that would come to Ireland, and she knows her calling is to help her people find their one true God. Turning away from her task would deny her own volitions and the needs of those who depended on her. Not only does she find the answers she seeks, but love and despair also result in this needed journey.

Osborne-McKnight is a born storyteller, and she weaves an engrossing tale once again. Anyone familiar with Celtic myth will find that wonderful feeling of familiarity resounding in this book, as in her first. The author brings characters right off the page, giving people from mythical stories a fullness that blurs the line between myth and real history.

- Rambles
written by Carie Morrison
published 6 April 2003