Tuesday 1 April 2008

Midsummer Maid

He is a woodsman, a forester, a good man but cursed with the mark of the devil on his face and shunned by many.

She is a dairy-maid, caring and brave, who feared no one.

Drawn to each other on a long and fateful Midsummer Day, can Haakon and Clare overcome the superstitions of their village and the brutal, lecherous knights to break out of their bonds of class and custom and to strive for a better life – together?

MuseItUp Publishing 2012



Once again, Ms. Lindsay Townsend has created a poignant story with a scarred hero and a spirited and intelligent heroine with Midsummer Maid. I love how Ms. Townsend gives her heroes a flaw which forces the reader to look into his heart rather than just at his handsome face. Her heroes are made of such deep, honorable character that their appearance becomes inconsequential.

I also like the way this heroine, though pretty and sweet, also rises to the occasion to stand with starch and grit against a village that condemns a man based on superstition. Ms. Townsend managed to get into this short story all the magical ingredients of an epic novel and close it with a deeply satisfying end. Midsummer Maid is a book not to be missed. It is short in length, but long in heart. - Five Lips

You Gotta Read Reviews:

Short and sweet, like a sip of summer wine…. Those words describe Lindsay Townsend’s swirl of honey, Midsummer Maid.  Only a bit over 20 pages, this little book is a treasure-trove of medieval sweet romance triumphing over the frenzy of lust.

I think the author wants us to see her book as a reflection of the tenderness that lies in the heart of the most simple of people–dairy maids and foresters–and how it is more meaningful and more true than the studied chivalry of a stiffly hierarchical society. Her prose is light as a May breeze, unstudied as a girlish smile. - Five Stars