Anne is in her late 20s/early 30s, a successful author living in New York city. Her beloved grandfather, who brought her up following the death of her parents when she was a child, is dying. He leaves her a box containing letters, diaries, photos and a dying wish for his ashes to be scattered in the lake close to where he was born in Ireland.
Anne feels a deep and emotional connection to the people and the land of her grandfather's birthplace as soon as she arrives in Ireland. She is captivated by the history, already looking for ways to weave it into her next novel. Things take a turn for the unknown however when she goes to scatter the ashes on the lake. A mysterious fog whips up and before she knows it, she is back in the Ireland of 1921 during its struggle for independence. These are dangerous times indeed. Anne is cared for by a local doctor, Dr Thomas Smith, whose name she recognises from her grandfather. There is also a small boy and a grandmother. What completely throws Anne is that she is being mistaken for the child's mother, presumed dead for the past few years.
It's complicated! But what a story the author tells with this concoction. Naturally Anne knows what is going to happen with the Irish problem, and finds herself drawn into the inner circle led by the charismatic Michael Collins. The love story gradually unfolds, and Anne constantly struggles with how much she knows and what she needs to hide of herself to protect herself from those who wish her dead. Interspersed with all this is the magic and mystery of Ireland, its people, myths, stories, fairy folk. There is also plenty on the history of Ireland under British rule, the famines, the migration stories, that fatalism so part of the Irish character. The story telling is magical, the time travel thing is not at all weird culminating in a really good novel, neither historical romance or historical fiction.
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