Excerpt: I was watching the canal intently by then, waiting for a bow to cut through the mist, from the south I figured, but it was hard to be sure with the fog playing its usual tricks with sound. The story is told through the candid journals of four women who encounter a mysterious boatman in their journeys along the canals of England, especially the beautiful Shropshire Union Canal known by boaters and locals as 'the Shroppie.' The boatman speaks at times as though he stepped out of the distant past, and his identity may be as shrouded with mist as the canal itself, but for one of the women who venture aboard his traditional narrowboat the temptation of his love proves too great. The book is about many things, among them love and lust, but Phantom of the Shroppie is not a typical romance. His instincts prove true: the feisty and talented healer quickly becomes the spark that t only reignites ancient animosities among factions of the Scottish army, but also rekindles his own fiery spirit.Dawn Hammill Paperback Book See Other Available Editions Description Phantom of the Shroppie is a novel for those who love travel, history, romance and the notion that magic really can reside not just in the world around us, but within the human heart as well - even in those hearts so wearied by the track of life that hope has slipped away among the weeds. Kind and passionate but tormented by deeds both past and present, Fergus seems to see in her far more than beauty and courage. To King Fergus of Galloway, however, she is Amadan De, a Gaelic name meaning Butterfly or God's Fool. Eventually, the young woman writes of her experience, so it is her own voice that is heard in the vel Galiene, which uses as its title the name given to the proud and spirited young Englishwoman by the Scottish warriors. This is her remarkable story of loss, survival and love. Before the morning is over, her home is in flames, her family is dead and she is taken captive by the Scottish army that invaded rthern England in 1138. Rumours of war are buzzing around her, yet the young healer who wrote those words could t have imagined the catastrophic changes that were coming that day. That morning had come like any other fair dawn in the cool of spring: crisp and sparkling and fresh with the air of change.

Phantom of the Shroppie by Dawn Hammill