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The Cross of Ciaran

The Cross of Ciaran

by

Andrea Matthews

He’s been entombed for fifteen hundred years. He should be dead. But was he?

Start the series readers call "impossible to put down."

When archaeologist Caitlin O'Connell discovers a perfectly preserved Celtic priest in an Irish hillside, she's convinced it's the find of the century. She has no idea that find is about to wake up.

Ciarán is a 5th-century pagan priest, buried alive for betraying his goddess. But somehow, he survives the ordeal and awakes in a world of stone walkways and blaring horns, a city far removed from his own world. Taking refuge in a local rectory, he pretends to be a handyman to hide the secret that could see him returned to the strange glass case he so recently woke in. Yet, he can't fight the growing attraction he has for Caitlin O'Connell, the woman determined to unravel the mystery of her missing Celt.

A tale of ancient secrets, modern danger, and a love story fifteen centuries in the making.

Book 1 of The Cross of Ciarán — An Irish Timeslip Romance Series. Six books published, with Book 7 arriving summer 2026. If you love binge-worthy historical romances with real stakes and unforgettable characters — this is your next obsession.

More Details

IAC Main Tropes:

Slow Burn

Detailed Tropes:

Ancient hero/modern woman, Fish out of water, Secret Identity/Hidden Status

Representations in This Book:

Age Groups:

Adult

Spice Level:

Level 4

Available Formats:

Paperback, Audiobook, eBook

Content Information:

Level 3

Some violence, sexual content

Links to Purchase

Please note that the author may not have their book listed at all the retailers below.

Other Books in the

The Cross of Ciaran

The Book of Carraig

The Book of Carraig

2

About the Author

Andrea Matthews

Inez M. Foster writes under two pen names. The first, Andrea Matthews, is for her historical and paranormal romances, and the second, I. M. Foster, is for her historical mysteries. Inez is a historian and retired librarian who loves to read, and write, and search around for her roots, genealogically speaking. She has a BA in History and an MLS in Library Science, and enjoys the research almost as much as she does the writing the story. In fact, many of her ideas come to her while doing casual research or digging into her family history. After working as a substitute teacher while raising her children, she retired from that career to pursue a second career as a librarian, where she chaired the Long Island History Committee of the Suffolk County Librarian Association. Now that she has retired, she has embarked on her third career as a full-time author.

Her historical romance series, Thunder on the Moor, is a story of time-travel and forbidden love, set on the 16th-century Anglo-Scottish Border. The paranormal romance series, The Cross of Ciaran, follows the life of a fifteen-hundred-year-old Celt, who finds himself in the twentieth century, falling in love with the archaeologist who discovered him.

Inez also writes historical mysteries under the pen name I. M. Foster. Her South Shore Mystery series is set in the early 1900s in a small Long Island village, not far from where she now lives, and involves an assistant coroner and doctor, whose love interest, a local librarian, insists on becoming embroiled in his cases.

To find out more about her work, you can check out her websites: www.andrea-matthews.com for her romances, and www.imfostermysteries.com for her historical mysteries.Inez M. Foster writes under two pen names. The first, Andrea Matthews, is for her historical and paranormal romances, and the second, I. M. Foster, is for her historical mysteries. Inez is a historian and retired librarian who loves to read, and write, and search around for her roots, genealogically speaking. She has a BA in History and an MLS in Library Science, and enjoys the research almost as much as she does the writing the story. In fact, many of her ideas come to her while doing casual research or digging into her family history. After working as a substitute teacher while raising her children, she retired from that career to pursue a second career as a librarian, where she chaired the Long Island History Committee of the Suffolk County Librarian Association. Now that she has retired, she has embarked on her third career as a full-time author.

Her historical romance series, Thunder on the Moor, is a story of time-travel and forbidden love, set on the 16th-century Anglo-Scottish Border. The paranormal romance series The Cross of Ciaran follows the life of a fifteen-hundred-year-old Celt who finds himself in the twentieth century and falls in love with the archaeologist who discovers him.

Inez also writes historical mysteries under the pen name I. M. Foster. Her South Shore Mystery series is set in the early 1900s in a small Long Island village, not far from where she now lives, and involves an assistant coroner and doctor, whose love interest, a local librarian, insists on becoming embroiled in his cases.

To find out more about her work, you can check out her websites: www.andrea-matthews.com for her romances, and www.imfostermysteries.com for her historical mysteries.

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