Imbolc
‘For Brigid Liston, people come into her life for a reason, a season or a lifetime, and when she knows which one it is, she'll know what to do with that person’
BRIGID LISTON, an ordinary, single mother, lacking in self esteem and shattered by her motherÂ’s death, is struggling to come to terms with the changes in her life and the possible loss of her only son to an incomer in the village, American academic, JANET HATTRIDGE, who is everything Brigid is not. Researching her Ulster Scots roots and her familyÂ’s connection to a long forgotten witch trial Janet has befriended Brigid's son QUINN, whilst he has been helping renovate her family home, the old Manse in the village. During the course of the renovation Quinn discovers a strange object, a stone with a hole in the middle, wrapped up in old papers. A witch stone, placed there to protect, it's removal, opens a long shut door.
As Quinn flattered, and attracted to Janet's worldliness, increasingly rejects his mother, he is drawn unwittingly into an older story, sharing secrets about himself and his past.
Events culminate on the 1st of February, Imbolc, an ancient Celtic festival, and his motherÂ’s birthday. As the day dawns, Brigid scatters her motherÂ’s ashes and remembers her mothers exhortations about the power of the old pagan beliefs - as she takes a course of action that will ultimately takes the highest price.