In the mid-1500s, the ‘witch craze’ was beginning to sweep across Europe. Hundreds of trials had already been conducted and hundreds of people executed for witchcraft in Germany, England, and Scotland. Would Ireland soon succumb? Gale Butler, begins her life journey as the pampered and well-educated daughter of a prosperous Galway merchant. She is a budding cartographer and sea-farer, joined in her early sailing adventures by her best friend and future pirate queen Granuaile (Grace/Grainne) O’Malley. Gale, aged 18, embarks on a series of journeys, only some of which are voluntary. She finds help and hindrance in unexpected ways and places. A druidic mentor, a mystical horse, and a troubled, handsome man at arms employed by the O’Flaherty clan assist her, while a seemingly impossible task is laid upon her by a fairy woman. Enemies abound and unseen evil begins to dog her heels, yet despite the plots and perils at hand, a romance begins to build and life-long friendships with some of the premier intellects and inventors of the age are forged. Set in Western Ireland, the tale is a mix of historical fact, plausible fiction, and just a touch of mysticism. Marion Zimmer Bradly meets Diana Gabaldon in this story of women who push against society's boundaries of religion, politics, and gender.