Liam is such a tragic character, so full of love and hope and determination to live despite the horrible way the villagers treat him. Lindsey’s knowledge of Irish fairies - true fairies, not the pixie Tinkerbells of Disney - truly helped to flesh out this haunting tale.

Based on Poe’s chilling, haunting poem, “Annabel Lee,” one may know the ending - but the journey is a deeply heart-wrenching tale.Ĭeltic folklore mixed with my favorite Poe poem is bound to be a recipe for greatness. Trial after trial is thrown upon them, and their love for one another is tested to the limit. Everyone else, from banshees to Selkies to villagers, has a different plan in mind for these two. When Liam and Anna meet on an island far off the coast of Maine with deep Irish roots, the world as they know it ends. Frustrated, the creatures put the couple through one last trial-and this time it’s not only their love that’s in danger of being destroyed.

But the tragedies draw Liam and Anna even closer. They make a wager on the couple’s love, testing its strength through a series of cruel obstacles. With Anna, Liam finally finds the happiness he has always been denied but, the violent, mythical Otherworlders, who inhabit the island and the sea around it, have other plans. Haunted by the wails of fantastical Bean Sidhes and labeled a demon by the villagers of Dòchas, Liam has accepted that things will never get better for him-until a wealthy heiress named Annabel Leighton arrives on the island and Liam’s fate is changed forever.

Ashes on the waves by mary lindsey