When Women Were Warriors

When she was a child, the author happily identified with all the male heroes she read about in stories that began, "Once upon a time, a young man went out to seek his fortune." But she would have been delighted to discover even one story like that with a female protagonist. Since she never did find the story she was looking for all those years ago, she decided to write it. In Book I of the trilogy, Tamras arrives in Merin’s house to begin her apprenticeship as a warrior, but her small stature causes many, including Tamras herself, to doubt that she will ever become a competent swordswoman. To make matters worse, the Lady Merin assigns her the position of companion, little more than a personal servant, to a woman who came to Merin’s house, seemingly out of nowhere, the previous winter, and this stranger wants nothing to do with Tamras.

"A Journey of the Heart [Book II] shows the same strong storytelling ability of the first book. The language is still almost musical and wraps its sweet spell around you.… Storylines that were just starting to grow in the first book are also very well developed here. Intrigue and conflict are fleshed out and take some surprising twists. All that I had hoped for, reading the first book, begins to bloom.…"--from a review by Kate Genet on the website, Kissed By Venus"Catherine Wilson creates a magical sense of place, and of belonging to that place. Within that, she also tells how it feels to not belong. … Ms. Wilson's is a tale of bone wisdom. It whispers of what we remember when we sleep at night and dream. It calls us to remember that women had, and still have, a wise and powerful place in the world."--from a review on the blog, The Rainbow Reader, by Baxter Clare Trautman, author of The River Within"In this book we see Tamras' world open from the House of Merin and its immediate environs into the lands beyond its borders. She meets other peoples, whose ways are different from those she knows. Similarly Tamras' inner life expands as well: the feelings within her blossom into the romantic love that will be the linchpin her life will hinge on…"--from a review by Charles Ferguson on the Goodreads websiteIn Book II of the trilogy, Tamras's apprenticeship as a warrior isn't turning out quite the way she expected. Her unconventional choices lead to her crossing swords, almost literally, with Vintel, the war leader of Merin's house. She finds herself embroiled in a power struggle she is doomed to lose, but the loss sends her on a journey that will change her destiny and decide the fate of her people.

"In Book II, Tamras moved from her home into the lands beyond its border. In Book three, the stage widens further: she deals with the struggles of whole peoples. Caught up in intrigues that would once have been far above her, the heroine risks everything unless she can not only learn to swim in treacherous waters, but to master them. The heroine's inner journey continues to match her outer one. She must confront the meaning not only of personal love, but the love that extends beyond oneself and those we hold dear. Catherine Wilson's skill at tackling the big issues of love, meaning, and humanity is so deft that it all seemed, to me at least, to flow naturally from her narrative in a way I found technically quite breathtaking.…"--from a review by Charles Ferguson on the Goodreads website"Being the third and last volume in a series I enjoyed immensely, I knew that I could expect this last book to deliver a happy and satisfying ending. What I didn't expect was the intricate and daring storyline of this last volume. It is bigger and broader than what has come before, and it is spectacular. … this time the story unfolds on to a whole new level. More characters, more intrigue, greater losses, wonderful reunions. … There's no taking the easy road here-the story opened up into unimagined dimensions to tell a tale that really is that of a hero."… When Women Were Warriors manages to blend mythic storytelling with characters who feel so real you could imagine stepping into the pages and having a conversation with them. A Hero's Tale skilfully weaves the questions of love, faith and fairness into a dramatic story; not only of a relationship between the main characters, but of a quest so much bigger it takes the breath away. There is everything you could wish for here – power struggles, forces for good and evil, dramatic tests of faith, daring rescues, fatal rivalry, but it is managed with such a deft hand that in the end it is all one beautiful story. What else is there to say? This is not just lesbian fiction, but a story about being human. It's not to be missed.--from a review by Kate Genet on the website, Kissed By VenusIn Book III of the trilogy, Tamras must make her own hero's journey. She ventures into the unknown and encounters a more formidable enemy than any she has ever faced. Character is destiny, and the destiny of Tamras and all her people will depend upon choices that come less from the skills she has been taught than from the person she has become, from her own heart.