A Distant Magic

Written by Mary Jo Putney

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

Mary Jo Putney’s passionate, vivid characters and captivating stories have earned enthusiastic acclaim from reviewers and readers everywhere. Now the New York Times bestselling author weaves a new tale in the Guardian series—a dazzling romantic fantasy that takes readers not only from the elegant streets of London to a dangerously tempting Mediterranean island but across time.

Jean Macrae’s family is one of the most prominent clans of Guardians, humans whose magical powers come from nature, but Jean considers her skills modest at best. She has never been able to summon the intense, earth-altering ability that has marked the most talented Guardians, and she is content without the adventure that such skill brings … until the day she is confronted by a handsome stranger whose magic imprisons her on his pirate ship.

Captain Nikolai Gregorio is convinced that Jean’s father abandoned him, as a child, to slavers. Now he seeks vengeance against the Macraes, no matter the cost. But Jean soon finds his untrained magical gifts far more dangerous than his thirst for revenge, especially when they intensify her own powers to an unthinkable—and enticing—degree. And when Jean and Nikolai’s irresistible connection summons a woman from the future, they are charged with a formidable task: protect those who will oppose slavery’s evil and forever change the future of two nations. This quest will sweep Jean and Nikolai into the most fantastic of realms and try their powers beyond even what the Guardians themselves would dare. And when ultimate disaster threatens, they will stake everything on a shattering test of love that could secure the fate of generations … or destroy them and all they cherish.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781705011195

Mary Jo Putney

Mary Jo Putney was born in upstate New York with a reading addiction, a condition for which there is no known cure. After earning degrees in English Literature and Industrial Design at Syracuse University, she became a ten-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America RITA, has published over forty books, and was the recipient of the 2013 RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Reviews for A Distant Magic

[Karen O Hansen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant, eyeopening and enthralling, both historically, about the slave trade and the abolition, and in the description of magic forces and persons working for the cause.

[montano_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A disappointment after Putney's last Guardian book. To echo another reviewer, this was clearly a case of research run rampant. The anti-slavery thrust of the story would have been fine to move the plot along but the long passages concentrating on a character unrelated to the main characters was distracting. The appearance of this character mid-way through the book stops the romance between Jean and Nickolai dead in its tracks. I put it down and don't feel compelled to pick it up again.

[emigre_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Putney manages to add social activism to a fantasy book in the 3rd installment of the Guardians series. A pampered Scottish lady and a rugged ship captain scarred by enslavement join forces to abolish slavery, they time-travel to appear at all the critical junctures of the movement and advance the cause with magic and sometimes sheer will. Putney's meticulous research added authenticity to the book, but it also sometimes made the bulk of the book read a little like a historical timeline instead of fiction.