Winter with the Eagle
Book 1
in the Glenbriar Legacy Series
Winter AD 84/85
At the northern edge of the Roman Empire, Lucius Valerius Daro commands a small detachment beyond the frontier, where he has been ordered to gather information through the bitter Caledonian winter. Sickness is spreading through his camp, and if he cannot find a cure, the men under his command will die.
In the nearby settlement of Brīwa, skilled healer Ilvara knows exactly what the Romans are capable of. They killed her family when she was a child, and she has spent years building a new life among the people who took her in. But after trusting the wrong man and nearly bringing disaster to the glen, she is determined never to surrender her judgement again.
When Ilvara is captured, the Roman commander offers her a stark choice: heal his soldiers, or watch her people suffer the consequences.
Forced to work side by side, Ilvara and Daro wage a bitter war against the sickness – and each other. But as danger closes in, they face another problem: a forbidden desire neither of them dares to name.
Falling for the enemy has never been so perilous.
Crossing the line between hate and love is only the beginning…
This story is perfect if you're looking for:
Scottish historical romance
Scottish Highlands setting
Standalone romance series
Forbidden love and compelling historical drama
Historical romance with high stakes and happy endings
Tropes in this story:
Enemies to Lovers (with actual swords!)
Anyone But You
Fall in Love With the Wrong Person
Forbidden Love
Hurt/ Comfort
Kidnapped
Love Interest Does Something Protagonist Hates
Roman soldier/ Caledonian woman
Prisoner/Jailer
Strangers to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Both have tragic pasts
Bargains and Pacts
Different Worlds
Touch her and die
He Falls First
Protective Hero
Found Family
This story has some open-door scenes though they are not overly explicit or graphic.
Reader References
Note on Names and Places
Winter with the Eagle is set in what is now Highland Perthshire, in Scotland, although the land and its people would have been very different in AD 84/85. At the time, this region formed part of what the Romans called Caledonia.
The people of northern Britain spoke Brythonic languages, ancestors of Welsh and Cumbric. Scottish Gaelic had not yet reached this part of Britain.
The community in this story I have named Brīwa (meaning thorny place or briar) or Brīwa Glannā (the valley of thorns). Over time, these names evolved into the modern Briar Glen and Glenbriar.
The names given to the folk of Brīwa are my own inventions, inspired by surviving Brythonic and Celtic words. While some ancient personal and place names have survived in Roman sources, we have no reliable record of the names that would have been used by an ordinary community such as this one.
Historical Accuracy
I put considerable research into the historical setting of Winter with the Eagle, including investigating the lives of both the Roman soldiers who occupied northern Britain and the indigenous people who lived there. This research has included visits to several historical sites and museums, among them Trimontium Museum, the Scottish Crannog Centre, Vindolanda and the remains of the Roman fortress at Inchtuthil.
Despite this research, a degree of creative licence has been necessary. Much of what happened in this particular region during this period is unknown, and some aspects of daily life, military activity and the movements of Roman forces cannot be conclusively established. The journey and activities of Daro's vexillatio (a detached military unit) through the fictional glen, for example, are entirely imagined, although intended to remain plausible within the historical setting.
Real historical figures and events also feature in the story, including the Roman governor Agricola and the battle of Mons Graupius. Where historical accounts are uncertain or open to interpretation, I have sometimes chosen to explore an alternative possibility. In particular, the account of Agricola's great victory at Mons Graupius, recorded by Tacitus, is treated here with a degree of scepticism. The possibility that Agricola exaggerated his achievements for political gain has informed my fictional interpretation, rather than being presented as an established historical fact.
Winter with the Eagle is therefore a work of historical fiction: grounded in archaeological and historical research, but with imagined people, places and events filling the gaps where history has left us without answers.