Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
I hope you’ve enjoyed Enchanted by The Highlander. Like many children, I grew up loving fairy tales, and Cinderella was one of my favorites.
I also love reimagining fairy tales for the Highland Fairy Tale series, giving them a Scottish twist, a bit of magic, humor, and lots of romance.
This book is dedicated to my late mother, partly because this book was completed on her birthday, and because she encouraged me to read and to write stories to help me overcome my learning disabilities and shyness—especially history and fairy tales.
There are a number of Scottish traditions mentioned in this book, especially in the contests between Gillian suitors. The history of the Gillie Callum, or sword dance, comes from A Fling Through The Highlands, a book by my dear friend, writer and photographer Nancy Desilets. This book was written for her daughter, Sarah, a Highland dance champion, and makes a fascinating read.
The Highland battle tradition of Cothrom na Feinne comes from the lore of Finn McCoul, which insists that a fair fight is always one-on-one, even in battle. I read about it in The White Cockade and Other Jacobite Tales by Stuart MacHardy. Like all MacHardy’s books of legend, folklore, and tales from Scottish history, this book is full of delightful and informative stories.
And as mentioned in the drinking contest, the tradition of bawdy songs about a laird’s sexual prowess was real, and the song Bod brighmhor ata ag Donncha (‘Duncan has a Potent Prick’) truly existed to describe the glory of the Campbell of Glenorchy’s manhood. Such songs were not sung just to titillate, but to give clansmen an understanding and confidence in the attributes of a true leader, a potent man able to protect and lead his clan. This information came from Sarah Fraser’s wonderful book The Last Highlander.
In one scene I mention how John makes willow flutes in the spring for the children of Carraig Brigh. This comes from one of my favorite childhood memories, when my father would go out into the woods behind our house in early spring and use his ever-handy penknife to turn a simple twig into a magical musical instrument. I’m sure I remember how, and if I’m ever in a willow grove in spring, I will try to recreate the magic.
And special thanks to my editor, Eileen Rothschild, who has taken my ordinary manuscripts and helped me make them into magical stories, and to my agent Kevan Lyon, who is always there for me with good advice, gently given, which writers who spend so much time living in imaginary worlds so very often need.
Thank you for reading Enchanted by the Highlander. I hope you’ll read the other books in the Highland Fairy Tales series as well. There’s a complete list of titles on my website at http://www.leciacornwall.com And please feel free to get in touch if you have comments or questions—I love hearing from readers! Email me at leciacornwall@shaw.ca
About the Author
Olivia Cotton Cornwall
Lecia Cornwall lives and writes in Calgary, Canada, amid the beautiful foothills of the Canadian Rockies, with four cats, two university students, a crazy chocolate Lab, and one very patient husband. She is hard at work on her next book. Come visit Lecia at www.leciacornwall.com.
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Also by Lecia Cornwall
Beauty and the Highland Beast
When a Laird Finds a Lass
The Lady and the Highlander
How a Lass Wed a Highlander (novella)
A Highland Christmas Wager (novella)
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
EPILOGUE
Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Lecia Cornwall
Copyright Page
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ENCHANTED BY THE HIGHLANDER. Copyright © 2017 by Lecia Cornwall. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Mimi Bark
Cover photograph: woman © darkbird77/iStock
ISBN 978-1-250-15620-4 (ebook)
First Edition: November 2017
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