Amanda Blanton

This is set in a post-Roman England weaving together bits and pieces from history with tales of magic and the bond of sisterhood. Isla and Blue are the daughters of the Great Smith and are imbued with legendary talents of their own. When their father dies they realize that the local warlord only wants to use them as women throughout history have always been used. The surprise comes when they are given refuge in the abandoned Roman city of Londinium by a group of wild outcasts who have all been left to survive the wild (or not survive- that was more the point of them being left) and have instead made a home and a thriving little community for themselves. In the true bond of sisterhood they take on the plights of Isla and Blue and it becomes a fight for the survival of them all. The romance in the novel was perfect- hinted at (sapphic and straight)- but never is the main point of the story. This was an uplifting, hopeful tale that follows a story through the turns of history to show how a modern man holding a Roman broach might connect across the centuries to a woman creating the broach in the Dark Ages.