Morgan's magnificence proven again: New title set in post-Boru Ireland
Christine Goldbeck's advance review of Pride of Lions, Morgan Llywelyn's novel of Brian Boru's son Donough in the years after Clontarf.
As printed in the Celtic Mirror, March 2003
Morgan Llywelyn recaptures the unrest and uncertainty of 11th century Ireland following the death of Brian Boru in her new novel "Pride of Lions."
Scheduled to be published March 17 by Tor Books in New York, "Pride of Lions" is a sequel to Llywelyn's 1980 best-seller, "Lion of Ireland." Like each of her books before this, "Pride of Lions" has the history, legend, adventure, romance and wonderful prose for which the author is read and loved.
Boru, murdered at Clontarf on Good Friday in 1014 A.D., had ruled Ireland like none of his predecessors. As the Ard Ri, high king, he changed the ways battles were fought and lives were lived.
So influential was his rule, the people of Ireland thought there would be no leader who would compare with Boru. Thus, Boru's kinsmen were indelibly marked by his greatness, and so the plot is laid for the story of the lion's "pride."
"Pride of Lions" is the story of Donough, Boru's youngest son and the one who looked most like his father. Donough, the son of the sexy and dangerous Gormlaith, is only 15 when Boru is assassinated, yet determined to follow in the footsteps of his father.
According to the book's foreword, written by the Rt. Hon. Conor O'Brien the Lord Inchiquin and a direct descendant of Brian Boru, "Llywelyn's Celtic gift with words and an extraordinary ability to bring the past to life are hallmarks of her literary excellence ... Factually, Donough's story as told in 'Pride of Lions' is accurate."
Llywelyn, now 50, was born Sally Winter and became an accomplished equestrienne who in 1976 scored one-half point short of winning a place on the U.S. Olympic team. She has been a model for Neiman-Marcus, an Arthur Murray dance instructor, a legal secretary and a horse trainer. She is also a high school dropout who happens to have an I.Q. of 163.
She chose as her nom de plume, Morgan (her middle name) and Llywelyn (her mother's name), and was on her way to becoming one of the best-loved historical novelists in Ireland as well as in America.
Her first book, "Wind From Hastings," was based on a family ancestor, Edyth, the wife of King Harold II of England, who observed the defeat of her spouse's armies at the famous Battle of Hastings.
"Lion of Ireland: the Legend of Brian Boru" was her second book, and it launched her career. Perhaps her greatest recognition came when President Ronald Reagan so loved the book that he called Llywelyn on Christmas Eve in 1980 to tell her so.
A note from the archive desk
Two details in this review do not match the record we checked. Wikipedia gives her birth name as Sally Snyder and her birth date as 3 December 1937, which would have made her nearer sixty than fifty when Pride of Lions came out in 1996. We have left the review's "Sally Winter" and "now 50" as printed, because that is what our readers saw at the time. The Olympic story holds up: she narrowly missed the 1976 United States Olympic team in dressage.
Donough is real. Donnchad mac Briain, son of Brian and Gormflaith, became King of Munster, was deposed in 1063 and died on pilgrimage in Rome the next year. He lies in the basilica of Santo Stefano al Monte Celio in Rome. Brian himself fell at Clontarf on Good Friday, 23 April 1014, as the review says, after a reign as High King that began in 1002. His body was carried to Armagh.
Note one small difference of opinion inside this very feature. Goldbeck calls the book a sequel to Lion of Ireland. In her interview with Thomas Larkin, Llywelyn insisted it was not, and that Donough's story was its own. Readers can decide; the book picks up where Brian's life ends either way.
Lion of Ireland, the 1980 novel this book follows, was her breakthrough. Pride of Lions came sixteen years later. Within two years she had moved forward nine centuries, to the Easter Rising, with 1916 in 1998.
Questions readers ask
What is Pride of Lions by Morgan Llywelyn about?
Pride of Lions, published in 1996, follows Donough, the youngest son of Brian Boru and Gormlaith, after Brian is killed at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Donough is fifteen when his father dies and is determined to follow in his footsteps. The novel continues the world of Llywelyn's 1980 book Lion of Ireland, though she preferred not to call it a sequel.
What was Morgan Llywelyn's real name?
According to Wikipedia she was born Sally Snyder in New York on 3 December 1937. A review in this magazine in the 1990s gave her birth name as Sally Winter, which does not match that record. Her pen name joins her middle name, Morgan, with Llywelyn, which the same review describes as her mother's name.
Who was Gormlaith, Brian Boru's wife?
Gormflaith ingen Murchada, often written Gormlaith, was a wife of Brian Boru and the mother of his son Donnchad, the Donough of Pride of Lions. Donnchad became King of Munster after Brian's death at Clontarf in 1014, was deposed in 1063 and died in Rome in 1064. This magazine's review of the novel called her "sexy and dangerous."
