Do you believe in magic?

Magical, Mystical Moon Gates

By Marilyn Baron

Maeve’s Web site theme is Magical Romance Sifting Through Time, so I thought her readers might enjoy reading about my new release, a romantic thriller/historical from The Wild Rose Press, Under the Moon Gate, because it traces two romances in contemporary and WW II Bermuda.

Have you ever seen a Moon Gate? If you’ve been to Bermuda, chances are you’ve come across one, or walked under one. When I visited Bermuda for the first time, I fell in love with moon gates, which is why a moon gate is featured on the cover of my new novel.  The words Moon Gate are also featured in the title of the book and moon gates are an integral theme throughout the story. A lot of action takes place in the shadow of the moon gate.

Moon Gates are a very special tradition in Bermuda. As a matter of fact, they are a national symbol.  Moon Gates are circular, ornamental arches, used as an entrance or gateway to a garden, built of Bermuda stone. Legend has it that people, especially young lovers and honeymooners, who step through a Moon Gate, are blessed with good luck.

According to the jeweler, Astwood Dickinson, where I bought my gold moon gate pendant, from their Bermuda collection, to celebrate the launch of my new book, it is said that when a newly married couple “steps through a moon gate,” arm in arm, they are completing the circle of life. This is supposed to bring lifelong prosperity and happiness.

According to Astwood Dickinson, the Moon Gate is considered mystical because it is believed that the design and the legend of the Moon Gate originally came to Bermuda from the Orient. The first plan for a Moon Gate in Bermuda was brought from a Chinese garden in 1860 by a local sea captain (and a sea captain is also featured in my book). The Bermuda Moon Gate is slightly different from the original Chinese design, as it is often left free-standing or attached to low wall. 

No one is exactly sure when or how, but the first Moon Gate in Bermuda is believed to have been built when the former gardener of the Duke of Westminster in the United Kingdom was employed to design the formal gardens for the British shipping organization Furness Withy.  That was in the 1920s and it was the first of the Bermuda Moon Gates in hotel properties. Today, the same design—with an enlarged keystone at the top—decorates the entrance to many Bermuda gardens, homes, patios and pool areas.

Some of Bermuda’s most famous moon gates go nowhere, but the legend of their magical powers remains. So if you should see a mystical, magical Moon Gate while you are in Bermuda –step through it and make a wish.  

I saw my first Moon Gate at the Marriott Castle Harbour Hotel (now closed) in Bermuda, one of the settings mentioned in Under the Moon Gate.

Excerpt from Under the Moon Gate:

Patience yanked open the thick Bermuda cedar door, ready to brush off the unwanted visitor. Instead, she experienced a shock of recognition when she stared at the man standing before her. Taking a step back, she examined him cautiously. With long black hair, pulled back by a stark white tie, stunning blue eyes, and a fabulous face that managed to look both sensitive and sensuous, he could easily pass for a dangerous pirate.

Perhaps she was daydreaming or hallucinating. She hadn’t gotten much sleep last night—or any night in the past month—and she had been reading a romance with a lusty pirate hero on the cover. Probably she still had pirates on the brain. Although the man at her door was in desperate need of a shave, he intrigued her. Her “pirate” was a

tall, imposing presence in tight-fitting but ragged khakis, with muscles bulging out of a snug, sweatstained white T-shirt.

Good Lord! was the first coherent thought that pierced her brain. She might have said it out loud had she been capable of speech. Her grandmother had said someone would come for her, but certainly she didn’t mean so soon and definitely not this brash pirate

person. And what was he doing at her door, unannounced and unwelcome, on a Sunday afternoon, disturbing her peace and leaving her speechless? One look at this man and she was about to toss all thoughts of proper behavior out the window.

If you would like to read Under the Moon Gate, (Kindle or print version) click this link

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Moon-Gate-Marilyn-Baron/dp/1612177875/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372147216&sr=8-1&keywords=under+the+moon+gate

The prequel to Under the Moon Gate, Destiny: A Bermuda Love Story is now out on Amazon (and is scheduled for wide release on Sept. 11) at http://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Bermuda-Love-Story-ebook/dp/B00D0RABAY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369698181&sr=1-1&keywords=Destiny%3A+A+Bermuda+Love+Story

Both books are set in Bermuda. Both are historicals. Here are the blurbs:

UNDER THE MOON GATE

Dashing sea captain Nathaniel Morgan sails into the life of prim and proper Bermuda heiress Patience Whitestone and threatens to expose her family secrets at any cost. The two are immediately at odds when Nathaniel moors his vessel in front of her estate and refuses to leave until he finds the cache of Swiss gold he’s convinced was buried somewhere on the property during World War II. Can Patience save herself and her family’s reputation when she finds herself reluctantly drawn to this determined “pirate”? Or will someone from the past make good on his threat to destroy them both? Their fate is inextricably linked to Nazi plots and to the beautiful moon gates of Bermuda in this compelling tale of love and intrigue.

DESTINY: A BERMUDA LOVE STORY

Prequel to UNDER THE MOON GATE

The relationship of star-crossed lovers Elizabeth Sutton and Edward Morgan founders off the coast of Bermuda with the shipwreck of the Sea Venture in the seventeenth century. Edward is seduced by the captain’s daughter and trapped into an unhappy marriage, but he and his new wife continue the voyage to Virginia to rescue the starving Jamestown Colony. Elizabeth, still in England and pregnant with Edward’s child, receives Edward’s letters telling of the shipwreck but knows nothing of his marriage. When her child is old enough, Elizabeth follows Edward as far as Bermuda. Will he return and will the lovers be reunited, or will their eternally entwined souls search forever to fulfill their destiny?

You can read more about Marilyn’s books and stories at www.marilynbaron.com.