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Scotland Adventure - The Elen Chronicles --Of Love and Blood

Sharon Brubaker Start Date: Oct 13, 2024 - End Date: Sep 11, 2025
  • Scotland, United Kingdom

My Travel Story

by: Sharon Brubaker Start Date: Oct 13, 2024 - End Date: Sep 11, 2025
Help nationally award-winning author Sharon Brubaker and her son and co-author James travel to Scotland to complete their research for their upcoming book The Elen Chronicles – Of Love and Blood. Healer Elen, shocked at the travesty of loss of life at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, returns home to find her young daughter, Helen, and her friend, Flora, have been taken prisoner by British soldiers. Elen seeks her daughter through war-torn Scotland, battling prejudice and whispers of witchcraft. After years of searching with few clues, she continues to hope, with an inner knowing Helen is alive somewhere. When America faces war with Britain in the fight for Independence, Elen must decide whether to use her healing gift for good or revenge. Thrust back into the horrors of war, will she finally find her daughter?

Sharon and James plan to travel to Scotland in September 2025 for hands-on research at Culloden Battlefield, various libraries, and museums. They also plan to follow Elen’s path through Scotland to 18th-century Liverpool, where Elen leaves for America.

Sharon and James are researching and writing the 18th-century American portion of the novel, which is slated for publication in 2026. Donors can follow along on social media and via the blog at www.sharon-brubaker.com.
  • Scotland, United Kingdom

Updates

4

  • Scotland And Elen Chronicles Update

    Scotland and Elen Chronicles Update
    Thank you to all donors to this project. James and I continue to fundraise to get to Scotland in September. The research is comprehensive, and a day doesn’t go by without me thinking, reading, and jotting down snippets of the book. The story behind The Elen Chronicles has become a part of my heart, mind, and soul. Recent research has flexed and changed the bit originally posted. The story has become richer, and I will post some of the changes soon.
    One thing I have been researching is 18th-century folk music. Elen can tap her feet and hum tunes from that time period. I’ve been listening to several choices on YouTube inspired by the book 101 Scottish Songs, selected by Norman Buchan. London: Collins Books, 1962. Here’s the link to the Elen playlist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHGQ5d3hF7M&list=PLleT9-eySqUh4xwCCTBKpkt7Q29eGyxIv. More will be added as the research continues.
    My foot is tapping. I am dreaming of bagpipes and the Scottish vistas…

  • A Snippet From The Elen Chronicles , Of Love And Blood

    A Snippet from The Elen Chronicles , of Love and Blood
    Many, many thanks for the recent donations. Here's a snippet from the book for you to enjoy.
    Elen remembered the making of her daughter, Helen. It was a warm, Beltane night. She had no sweetie and she felt bereft. Her mother had died at the beginning of spring. Usually being alone didn’t bother her. But, tonight she was compelled by an unseen force to celebrate the holiday.
    She washed and brushed her long, fiery red hair until it fell down her back in gleaming waves and put on her best dress. She didn’t know what to expect that Beltane night. Men evaded her and her mother. Even though they were healers, they were suspected of being witches. No one knew her past or where her real magic lay.
    She wandered towards the forest and a red deer broke off from the herd and joined her, gently lipping her arm. She reached over and patted its muzzle, wishing it well as she looked into its deep, liquid brown eyes.
    In the distance, she saw the fires of Beltane on the hilltop, heard the faint strains of fiddles, and the sounds of the revelers. She continued towards the forest with the twilight settling around her shoulders like a cloak.
    In the forest, it was quiet except for the leaves rustling with a gentle breeze sounding like the waves on the sea coming to shore with a gentle whoosh. The crunch of a twig breaking caught her attention and she froze, like one of her deer friends, wide-eyed in the gloaming. Another crack. It was the sound of a human, not an animal.
    And out of the trees, silhouetted by the rising full moon, there he was. A tall, dark figure. There was an instant frisson of energy that danced between them. It was if their very auras collided and fizzed.
    He opened his arms and she walked into them, unafraid. He held her as if he cherished her, carefully and lovingly. She reached up and stroked his face. It was smooth, but different, not covered in stubble, but more like the bark of a tree. It was like he had a face of living wood. She wished she could see it in the darkness.
    When he moved, she heard the rustle of leaves. When he kissed her, all was lost. She melted into him and his touch. He awoke something in her.
    Their joining was slow. He touched her everywhere and reverently, murmuring a love language she didn’t understand. It was like Gaelic, but older. Its cadence washed over her like a spell. And she was hungry then, for his touch and their joining.
    When their passion abated, he held her tenderly. Elen nestled in his arms, dozing, waking, and dozing again in a dream-like sequence. Sometime before dawn, when a lone bird piped a tune to wake the sun, he moved away from her gently. Pulling away, bit by bit, untangling their limbs that had become one.
    He kissed her tenderly, whispering, “Mo Cridhe, Elen, my love.”
    But, he left her and tears streamed down her cheeks silently as a ray of sun spilt through the trees.
    She knew she was with child.
    Children from Beltane were not looked upon as a sin. Many women held fruit in their loins after a raucous Beltane night.
    Elen thought about the encounter over and over again. She knew in her heart that this one night of passion would likely never come again. Her mother told her so, that her line lived through their women. That’s just the way it was. They were focused on healing, and not wifely duties. And, she was to bring up her daughter and teach her to be a healer as Elen’s mother had taught Elen, and her grandmother had taught her mother. It was that way for a millennium.
    Thanks to Photo by Cris DiNoto on Unsplash

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