The Spellbox

When American tourists Lucy McLaverty and Maxine Desmond saw the sign "Thistleburn - Experience the Medieval" - they thought of nothing more than finding a welcome respite from a fierce storm buffeting the Scottish highlands. But when morning comes, more than the weather has changed. Though still in Scotland, they discover they have been transported 700 years into the past.With little more than their wits to protect them, Lucy and Max are immediately branded as witches and locked in the castle dungeon to await the judgment of the Laird of Thistleburn, Sir Evan Lyells. His timely return brings an end to the first plot to burn them at the stake but makes a dangerous enemy of the castle's cunning English priest, Adair Beath. Lucy's ability to read (a talent previously reserved to Beath) and to speak foreign languages proves valuable to the brawny laird. Soon she is at his side regularly and an improbable chemistry begins to develop between the two. That chemistry ignites during a raucous banquet, featuring the cuisine of restaurateur Maxine, when Sir Evan reveals to Lucy the dark secret that has blackened his heart. For Lucy, the emptiness of her life in modern times has finally been filled but with a man--and in a century--to which she can never belong. THE SPELLBOX captures the passion of Lucy and Sir Evan in a backdrop of violence, rebellion, and treachery that was Scotland seven centuries ago. Two resourceful women survive the challenge and adventure of this mysterious journey, and when only one returns to modern time, the story that links the past, the present, and the future is complete.