And I’ve told you to call me Idina, haven’t I?”Īs Ianthe got older, more and more people in town asked her to call them by their first name, as though she was one of the adults-a concept much too odd for Ianthe to accept. A deep brown coil fell in front of her eye, and she flipped the curl back into place. How are you?” she asked with a dip of her head. “What’ll you have, darlings? Oh, Ianthe.” Idina’s tone brightened as she recognized Ianthe at the table. The proprietor, Idina, weaved in and out of tables taking orders, quick as a hurricane wind. They arrived at the tea shop, opting for the outdoor seating on such a beautiful spring day, and claimed a small table with chipping white paint at the edge of the patio. Ianthe dropped her hands into her pockets and suppressed her embarrassment for another time. “Well… sort of,” Ianthe said, “but believe me. “But I did interrupt something, didn’t I?” Dubheasa smirked, almost amused with Ianthe’s discomfort. “Oh, it’s fine,” Ianthe said, waving her hand in dismissal. I didn’t mean to pull you away so quickly.” “Ianthe, you could have said goodbye to your friend, you know. And finding the truth just may threaten her future.Īmazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK Excerpt

But finding the myth may not be enough to mend the past. With her best friend, Fintan, by her side, Ianthe searches for a lost legend and discovers fantastical dangers, family secrets, and the magic of Ireland. But when an old acquaintance returns to town and suggests the statue isn’t just a statue, the presence of a mythical creature comes into question, and Ianthe begins to wonder what really happened all those years ago. Now, eleven years later, the statue stands as a memorial and a place where Ianthe often visits to tell her mother about her life. Ianthe was only six years old when her mother vanished and the strange statue appeared in the river near her home.

Mother of the River by Emily McPherson