Shrine of Light — Sarah Isidore

The Goddess Is Everywhere...

For hundreds of years in the Celtic lands, the women descended from the great priestess Veleda have carried on a sacred tradition born in a desert realm a world away. They alone among the Celts worship the Egyptian cat-headed goddess Bast--devoutly practicing Her ways of healing and prophecy, while repudiating the murderous rites of Her sister and nemesis, the lion-headed Sekhmet.

The world is changing. A new religion, Christianity, is sweeping across the province of the Celts, and its followers will abide no rival gods. For the young priestess, Damona--the latest of Veleda's line--the struggle intensifies to keep Bast's holy tradition alive...and to resist the pernicious seductions of the Sekhmet, who no longer has worshippers of Her own. But defying the lion-headed deity may take a will stronger than Damona possesses. And when all that was once hers is ripped away, the gentle priestess is driven to seek a cold and brutal vengeance. Hers is a path that will bring misery to many--yet it will ultimately impel a chastened Damona to seek a miraculous redemption in an exotic land, lest winter, blight, and darkness eternally plague her beloved home of Eire.