LITTLE FEATHER'S WOMAN (REVISED 2008) REVIEW
Fiction/Romance
Little Feather’s Woman (Revised)
Maeve Sidhe Fitzgerald
Xlibris 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4134-6002-5
Soft cover 266 pages
My first encounter with author Maeve Sidhe Fitzgerald’s writing was her second novel, Joshua
Greyman. The book is exemplary of Fitzgerald’s skill with character development, well-timed
humor, and titillating love scenes. In the revised edition of her first novel, Little Feather’s
Woman, the author offers her readers historically based story-telling with a mix of adventure,
violence, and of course, a beautiful, hot couple. Fitzgerald incorporates teasing depictions of
the couples budding love in every chapter of this intensely entertaining book.
The story begins in Ireland, 1649. Hiding from English soldiers, Shannon and Shamus discuss a plan
of escape from their enemies with their father. They have already lost a brother in an ambush
that the three-some have decided must have been enabled with the help of a traitor. The men are
trying to convince Shannon to disguise herself as a boy so that her identity will not be discovered.
Stubborn and recalcitrant, Shannon argues with her father even as he lay dying from wounds he gained
in battle. The young woman reluctantly agrees to the plan as her father slips away. While in the
throes of grief, Shannon hears a voice in her head that encourages her to leave the cave quickly
with her brother. The owner of the voice will prove to be a significant figure in Shannon’s past
and future.
I did not read the first edition of Little Feather’s Woman, so I cannot compare the old and
new versions. I can, however, declare my love for the book’s lead characters. Little Feather is a
powerful warrior, with a strong sense of family and community who just happens to be at a prime age
for acquiring a wife. Shannon is a dynamic, multi-talented woman who is a skilled fighter and healer
with a feisty temperament and a loving, open heart. The plan to keep her safe from the unidentified
traitor who has put a bounty on her head transforms her into the mentally slow Ian McPhearson who
is sold into indentured servitude in the Native American lands of Iroquoia. It is after Shannon’s
contract has been sold to a pair of French traders that Shannon encounters Little Feather. Shannon
uses her skill with a gun and with surgical stitching to save Little Feather’s life after he is
attacked by a bear. Little Feather’s interest in 'Ian' is immediate and influenced by his uncle,
Iron Fist, who has had several encounters with the young boy. Iron Fist quickly unravels Shannon’s
secret and facilitates the joining of the unlikely pair. Little Feather and Shannon face murderous
invaders, small pox, and a growing love that leaves them both confused and overwhelmed.
Fitzgerald writes stories that gather up a reader’s attention, exercises her imagination, and exposes
her to sensuality so subtle she will experience the warmth of the author’s words in the body before
they are thoroughly absorbed in the mind.
Little Feather’s Woman is filled with adventure, drama, and more than one type of excitement. I
highly recommend it.
Melissa Levine
for Independent Professional Book Reviewers
bookreviewers.org