A sword from Galway

About this book

A historical fiction novel based loosely on the Irish legend of Rice de Culvey of Galway. Rice de Culvey had lands and castles in Galway, and the stables and servants and wealth of his noble inheritance. He left them to go on a perilous voyage far from his Irish home, sailing with Columbus to the shores of the Caribbean sea. For his castle, his lands, and his wealth meant nothing without Fiona O'Flaherty to share them, and dark-haired Fiona could never be his; the feud between the O'Flahertys and the de Culveys was also his inheritance. Between the lovers lay years of bitterness, suffering, forgetfulness and danger, years in which Rice de Culvey fought the savages of the new world, the pirates on the Barbary Coast, and fought his memories of Fiona. Only his faithful wolfhound seemed to know what had been left behind, and Rice and the dog were an inseparable, noble pair. This is a story of fiery temperaments, of conflict between pride and love, told in the grand full style of historical romance. Drayton Mayrant has here focussed the colors of this vivid time on a fascinating man, the Irish knight whose story could be true. A scrap of legend furnished Miss Mayrant the beginning of her tale, and the reader will be carried on, as she was, by the rich imaginative possibilities of his headlong adventure and his steadfast love.