Branwen: The Welsh Goddess of Sorrow and Sovereignty

Beaten daily in a foreign kitchen, a captive queen taught a starling to carry word home. Branwen was a British princess, married to the king of Ireland to seal a peace. It held until her half-brother insulted the Irish king, and the Irish made her pay. She was sent to the kitchen, where a butcher struck her across the ears every day for three years. Cut off from anyone who could help, she caught a starling and taught it to speak, then sent it over the water with a letter under its wing. Her brother, the king of Britain, raised an army and crossed the sea, and the war ruined both kingdoms. Her own son was thrown into a fire. When it ended, almost everyone was dead, and the survivors carried her home to Wales. >This book is about the woman behind that grave, and whether she was once a goddess the storytellers turned mortal.