The first lesson Eilean MacAlistair learned in blacksmithing: First, you harden, and then you temper.Otherwise, your metal will break.The same is true with life. A few years back, Eilean didn't temper herself, and she broke someone. Badly. Hospital badly. Her family had to flee Scotland because of her, but now they've returned, and 17-year-old Eilean's life feels like a forge with the temperature rising around her. Mamó is sick, her family is straining at the seams, and magic is real! An Otherworld has been calling to her from beneath Loch Lomond. When she answers, Eilean discovers a world of blacksmiths in ballgowns, cruel cyclopses, and chronically critical kelpies.Because she didn't have enough problems to deal with already. Will Eilean be able to temper herself against everything in this strange new world, and withstand the weight of her past? Or will she break once again? Find out in the first adventure of Eilean in the Otherworld, The Spiral of Life, a young adult fantasy inspired by Celtic folklore.
