Mo chridhe - my heart
Corrachag-cagail - dancing and flickering ember flames
Mo reul-iuil, is ann leatsa abhios mo chridhe gubrath - My North Star, my heart belongs to you forever
Dinna ken - didn’t know
A h-uile là sona dhuibh 's gun là idir dona dhuib - May all your days be happy ones
Tae - to
Winna - won’t or will not
Daena - don’t
Tis - it is or there is. This is most often a contraction t’is, but it looked messy and hard to read on the page so I removed the apostrophe. For Magnus it’s not a contraction, it’s a word.
Och nae - Oh no.
Ken, kent, kens - know, knew, knows
iora rua - a squirrel. (Magnus compares Kaitlyn to this ;o)
scabby-boggin tarriwag - Ugly-foul smelling testicles
latha fada - long day
sùgh am gròiseid - juice in the gooseberry
Beinn Labhair - Ben Lawers, the highest mountain in the southern part of the Scottish Highlands. It lies to the north of Loch Tay.
“And I will come again, my love, though it were ten thousand mile…” is from the beautiful Robert Burns poem, O my Luve's like a red, red rose, written in 1794 after Magnus’s time.
beannachd leibh - farewell or blessings be with you.
“Fra banc to banc, fra wod to wod, I rin, Ourhailit with my feeble fantasie, Lyk til a leif that fallis from a trie…” is from a Sonet by Mark Alexander Boyd. 1563-1601
Locations:
Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida, 2017-2020
Magnus’s home in Scotland - Balloch. Built in 1552. In early 1800s it was rebuilt as Taymouth Castle. (Maybe because of the breach in the walls caused by our siege from the future?) Situated on the south bank of the River Tay, in the heart of the Grampian Mountains. In 2382 it is a ruin.
Kilchurn Castle - Magnus’s childhood home, favorite castle of his uncle Baldie. On an island at the northeastern end of Loch Awe. In the region Argyll.
The kingdom of Magnus the First is in Scotland, his Caisteal Morag is very near Balloch Castle.
Paris, Montmartre, 1904.
True things that happened:
Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy (1550 – 1583) did claim to have chosen the site of the Balloch Castle on the spot where he first heard a blackbird sing.
In 1787, Robert Burns described the beauty of Balloch Castle and its surrounding lands in verse, as follows:-
The Tay meandering sweet in infant pride,
The Palace rising on its verdant side,
The lawns, wood fringed, in Nature's native taste,
The hillocks dropped in Nature's native haste...
Madeleine was the name of a model who posed for Picasso and became his mistress in the summer of 1904, but that is all we know. Where she came from, where she went after leaving Picasso, when she died, and even her last name are lost to history.
I have posited here that this is because she was actually a time traveler. Whether that is true or not is impossible to prove. She appears in some of Picasso's late Blue Period works.
Coutts bank is a real bank formed in 1692 by a young Scots goldsmith-banker, John Campbell. Cynthia Tyler tells me to get in I need a minimum deposit of £500,000 pounds, or total assets of £5,000,000. Lady Mad only banks with the best family banks.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to Jessica Fox for being the very first reader to accomplish the full read through. You sent me a list of loves and very few issues, but reminded me that Magnus needed to grab the bag of vessels when he rescued Hayley, thank you! I really thank you for reading, your compliments reminded me to breathe again.
A big thank you to David Sutton for beta-reading again. It was a tight deadline this time, but thank you for all your thoughts. From urging me not to let Magnus pack protein bars for Hayley before she went to re-meet Fraoch, to sending me a video about skinning a rabbit, urging me not to let them jump near the house, and reminding me that ginger-ale is for nausea and that absinthe is green. Thank you for all of your insights, every suggestion helps make the story better and better.
A huge thank you to Heather Hawkes for beta-reading yet again. I thought this installment was without a cliffhanger until you sent me a barrage of gifs and:
“So when is book ten gonna be started?? Tomorrow? I’m coming to your house so you can fill my ass in. I’m gonna die waiting. How can you do this to me??? I thought we were friends?!”
I am very glad we are friends, that you care this much about the story and have invested your time in it, thank you.
Thank you to Kristen Schoenmann De Haan for always being available to beta-read, and getting it done during family time on this crazy tight deadline smack dab in holiday hoopla. I really appreciated your thoughts and your kind words. There was a section there, the bit where Hayley says “It was odd how much the world kept being the same.” I had taken it out, you told me you loved it so I added it back. Thank you.
And a special, gigantic thank you to Cynthia Tyler for pointing out that bears were extinct in Scotland, to noting there were many cars in Paris in 1904, to making sure that my its and it’s were right and loving Hayley and Kaitlyn’s pros and cons scene, and the million other things you found and noticed. I’m filled with gratitude about your wonderful editing, for going faster than seems humanly possible, and helping me get this super polished to a high sheen just in time for release. You are so darn good at this, thank you.
And a very big thank you to Keira Stevens for becoming the narrator of my audiobooks and bringing Kaitlyn and Magnus to life. Now, when I’m writing, I hear your voices in my head and they have become even more living breathing friends to me. I adore the way you do this, all of this, from beginning to the very finished end. And thank you for finding the perfect voice to read POV Magnus beginning in book 4 and becoming a collaborator and manager and all the new things you have to do to make that happen.
And thank you to Shane East for joining the team and voicing Magnus. He is perfect.
Thank you to Jackie Malecki and Angelique Mahfood for signing on to help admin the big and growing FB group. I’m so glad you’re there!
And thank you to Anna Spain for starting the weekly book club, it means so much to me that you started it for the group, I know it takes time and I don’t know what to say, but thank you.
Which brings me to a huge thank you to every single member of the FB group, Kaitlyn and the Highlander. Every day, in every way, sharing your thoughts, joys, and loves with me is so amazing, thank you. You inspire me to try harder.
Thank you to Sandy Hambrick, Linda Rose Lynch, Dianna Schmidt, Jenny Thomas, Molly Lyions, Tracey Rountree-Bristow, Nadeen Lough, Jessica Blasek, Lillian Llewellyn, Ginger Duke, Donna Hughes, Christine Cornelison, Gail Bissett, Kathy Ann Harper, Christine Todd Champeaux, Lisa Greer McKinnon, Jenny Thomas, Ishka Arnold, Lesli Muir Lytle, Nancy Josey Massengill, Nadeen Lough, Georgene K Jacobs, Sharon-Nick Palmer, Tara Smith Blake, Yvette Brown, Melinda Flanagan, Sammie Moore, Karen Ingersoll, Noelle Pratt Blosser, Sheri Nolte-Ochoa, Stacey Eddings, Jenni Branchaw, Mary Pahs, Debbie Olson, Joanne Watkins, Faith Ransom, Sarah J Thomas, Roseanne Russell, Neshama Fried Mousseau, Alix Cothran, Emily Smith-Haskins, Nicky Scott, Julie Schmitz Stephens, Nakia Brown, Sara Bacher, Peggy Locke, Carol Leslie, Esther Lee, Lissette Capote, Diana Rhodes, Janet Zidoff Lukach, Michelle Lynn Cochran for all your posts and comments in the group.
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And when I ask ‘research questions’ you give such great answers…
I asked: Time and money is no object, Magnus gets something for Kaitlyn for an anniversary present. (Three years!) What does he get her?
There were 87 wonderful replies. Our Magnus ended up giving Kaitlyn more than one.
Teri Gutermuth, Liza Gee, Sammie Moore, Sly Greenberg, and Sara Bacher came up with leather journal.
Sandy Hambrick, Lisa Zimmerman Moon, Linda Downing Carlson, Tara Smith Blake, Christine Corneliso
n, Lisa Hostetler, Barbara McPherson, Jackie Malecki, and Leondra Workman all said a horse.
Susan Nilsson, Tori Brouhard, Cathy Cannizzaro, Nadeem Lough, Cheryl Strother hoped for a locket
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Marlene Villardi and Deborah Garver, Donna Hughes, Beverly Leonard, Dee Spencer Hentz, were answering the question about anniversary gifts, but gave me the idea of giving the traditional brooch and sgian dubh to Lady Mairead.
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I also asked if you could add to Kaitlyn’s backpack, what she might take to the past? The list was long and thorough, but sadly, Kaitlyn never got to pack this go around, hopefully I can use it next time!
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And I asked for your help picking the new house for the gang. I didn’t know at the time that the gang would be moving twice in this book. Hundreds of you weighed in and helped me pick real estate, thank you so much for the help.
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I also asked: Kaitlyn finds herself wearing a Tshirt to sleep in. Just some random, funny, weird or ironic Tshirt. Magnus is away for the night so it doesn't have to be cute. Trouble is, the shirt ends up being something she has to wear for longer and in public. She might regret it, or at least it's not really what she would want to wear. What does the Tshirt say?
There were so many great comments, I hated having to choose just one, so I picked Liza Gee’s choice: I’m only here for the men in kilts, but then at the last moment I picked Kathryn Denton’s choice: Team Edward. Because ultimately it needed to be something that Quentin could see on video and recognize immediately.
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For book 8 I asked the group to name a meal that Barb would make for Kaitlyn. Since I used it again, here are my thanks again. Thank you for Chicken and Dumplings Phyllis Phucas, Michiko Martin, and Sara Bacher.
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If I have somehow forgotten to add your name, or didn’t remember your contribution, please forgive me. I am living in the world of Magnus and Kaitlyn and it is hard some days to come up for air.
I mean to always say truthfully thank you. Thank you.
Thank you to Kevin Dowdee for being there for me in the real world as I submerge into this world to write these stories of Magnus and Kaitlyn. I appreciate you so much.
Thank you to my kids, Ean, Gwynnie, Fiona, and Isobel, for listening to me go on and on about these characters, advising me whenever you can, and accepting them as real parts of our lives. I love you.
Also by Diana Knightley
Can he see to the depths of her mystery before it’s too late?
The oceans cover everything, the apocalypse is behind them. Before them is just water, leveling. And in the middle — they find each other.
On a desolate, military-run Outpost, Beckett is waiting.
Then Luna bumps her paddleboard up to the glass windows and disrupts his everything.
And soon Beckett has something and someone to live for. Finally. But their survival depends on discovering what she’s hiding, what she won't tell him.
Because some things are too painful to speak out loud.
With the clock ticking, the water rising, and the storms growing, hang on while Beckett and Luna desperately try to rescue each other in Leveling, the epic, steamy, and suspenseful first book of the trilogy, Luna's Story:
Leveling: Book One of Luna’s Story
Under: Book Two of Luna’s Story
Deep: Book Three of Luna’s Story
About me, Diana Knightley
I live in Los Angeles where we have a lot of apocalyptic tendencies that we overcome by wishful thinking. Also great beaches. I maintain a lot of people in a small house, too many pets, and a to-do list that is longer than it should be, because my main rule is: Art, play, fun, before housework. My kids say I am a cool mom because I try to be kind. I’m married to a guy who is like a water god: he surfs, he paddle boards, he built a boat. I’m a huge fan.
I write about heroes and tragedies and magical whisperings and always forever happily ever afters. I love that scene where the two are desperate to be together but can’t because of war or apocalyptic-stuff or (scientifically sound!) time-jumping and he is begging the universe with a plead in his heart and she is distraught (yet still strong) and somehow, through kisses and steamy more and hope and heaps and piles of true love, they manage to come out on the other side.
I like a man in a kilt, especially if he looks like a Hemsworth, doesn’t matter, Liam or Chris.
My couples so far include Beckett and Luna (from the trilogy, Luna’s Story) who battle their fear to find each other during an apocalypse of rising waters. And Magnus and Kaitlyn (from the series Kaitlyn and the Highlander). Who find themselves traveling through time to be together.
I write under two pen names, this one here, Diana Knightley, and another one, H. D. Knightley, where I write books for Young Adults (They are still romantic and fun and sometimes steamy though, because love is grand at any age.)
DianaKnightley.com
[email protected]
Also by H. D. Knightley (My YA pen name)
Bright (Book One of The Estelle Series)
Beyond (Book Two of The Estelle Series)
Belief (Book Three of The Estelle Series)
Fly; The Light Princess Retold
Violet’s Mountain
Sid and Teddy
Again My Love (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 9) Page 26