Stepping into one of Lynn Kurland’s time travel novels is definitely one magic moment in itself. This book is part of the on-going Macleod/de Piaget series that began in 1996 with Stardust of Yesterday. I’m happy to report Kurland hasn’t lost her touch.

Cambridge Medieval scholar and American Tessa Alexander is still reeling from two huge events in her life: Her sister Pippa recently married a Medieval lord and agreed to live with him in the Middle Ages, and Tessa has been deeded the refurbished Sedgwick Castle by an older gentleman who admires her work in Medieval history. To pay the bills, she holds special dinners and reenactment events on the property with the help of another sister, Peaches.

When garage owner Jon de Piaget first sees her, he’s immediately smitten. But Jon, a former Medieval knight, son of a lord, has successfully hidden his past since he stumbled into the future after a fight with his father.

Tessa is stunned to see a spitting image of Pippa’s husband Montgomery living in the nearest village, but she doesn’t know how to tell Jon she knows Montgomery after she learns that Jon is keeping his past hidden.

Gradually, Tessa and Jon start to go out, always skirting the issue of his past—he thinks telling her who he really is will make her believe he’s crazy; she imagines her confronting him with his past and her knowledge of it will cause him to run away from her. She is charmed by his skill at playing stringed instruments, and he is impressed with her real knowledge of Medieval times.

But as they see each other odd occurrences begin to plague them: The sword his father gave him is stolen (something he can’t report to authorities), and she is nearly hit on the head with a heavy curtain rod. When his sword turns up in the garden of a castle they are visiting, Tessa gets a mysterious note telling her to go to the garden, and Jon follows her, they are both pulled back into Medieval times.

Jon reverts to his chivalrous self, getting Tess to another brother’s keep, and Tess gets her first tastes of Medieval reality which differs from her academic training. As the odd occurrences escalate, they realize someone is trying to kill one of them. But which one?

Besides writing a leisurely, yet exciting tale, Kurland tackles the questions of time—is it linear or circular or concurrent—as well as family and love. What is the ultimate pull for both Jon and Tess? Should each stay in the time period of extended family or should they as a couple decide in which century to live? While these questions are couched in terms of time travel, they resonate today with immigrants marrying natives and having to make the same decisions.

While I found this book easy to follow, I wonder if those who haven’t kept up with the fortunes and misfortunes of both the Macleod and de Piaget families would have such an easy time of understanding the familial connections or whether knowing these connections matter. To help those who haven’t followed the series, Kurland includes an updated family tree, complete with book covers for previous novels which should help.

While Kurland knows that Jon and Tess must make their own decision about when and where to live, just like the many other couples in the series, each trip to Medieval times thanks to Kurland is magical, never to be forgotten.