Set in the British Isles during the Bronze Age, a time when matrilineal societies predominated and female warriors were not uncommon, When Women Were Warriors tells the story of Tamras, a young woman of the warrior class who leaves home to be fostered in Merinβs house, a fortress guarding the northern border of a rich agricultural valley. There she expects to find a mentor who will teach her the skills she will need to take her place in her community.
As often happens with heroes, Tamrasβs path diverges from the path her elders intended her to take. She follows her heart, regardless of what anyone else thinks about her choices. She chooses for her friend a young woman who was once a slave, a woman without family or position, and she chooses for her mentor a woman of another tribe, whom everyone distrusts because they consider her to be not one of them β a stranger.
Because of her unconventional choices, Tamrasβs life is not what it would have been had she done what was expected of her, but every human life is unique, and the heroβs journey is the story of a person finding her own path through life. The hero doesnβt blindly follow where others lead. She doesnβt accept without question the opinions and the values of others. The true hero follows her heart and seeks her own truth. By doing so, she encourages us all to live our own unique lives as fully as we can.
But just like the rest of us, Tamras pays a price for going her own way, and one of the things that make her a hero is her ability and her willingness to pay that price.
In Book I of the trilogy, Tamras arrives in Merinβs 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 Merinβs house, seemingly out of nowhere, the previous winter, and this stranger wants nothing to do with Tamras.
Tamrasβs journey begins with the smallest of steps. She sets aside her disappointment and performs as well as she can the humble tasks given her, and eventually she succeeds in winning the trust and then the friendship of the cantankerous warrior to whom she has been assigned.
In the first year of her journey, Tamras will make a series of choices that often seem insignificant, but they will flow from her character and from her good intentions, and they will determine her destiny.
Winner of the 2010 Epic Ebook Award for fiction in the Mainstream category.