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
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?
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