Hello there, lovely people! Thanks for having me—it's an absolute thrill to be here.
Let me take you back to the days when I was just a pint-sized bookworm with a serious obsession for anything nostalgic. Picture this: me, curled up with my nose buried in the pages of Anne of Green Gables or glued to the TV screen watching Little House on the Prairie.
At ten years old, I wondered about time travel. My biggest wish? To end up back in the pioneer era with Nellie Oleson. Why her and not Laura Ingalls? Because the Oleson family owned the candy shop. Can you blame me?
Eventually, I had everything figured out, but the idea of staying in the 18th or 19th century didn't sit right with me. I'd miss my family too much, not to mention modern comforts. So, I knew I had to find a way to move back and forth through time without drawing any attention.
So, while my friends rocked jeans and t-shirts, there I was in dresses and a white bonnet. Prepared, just in case it worked and I was whisked through time. When I ended up in Walnut Grove or Avonlea, I’d be ready for the adventure.
By sixth grade, I realized time travel probably wasn’t in the cards. But—never one to give up on fairy tales, I grew up and discovered a way to time-travel without magic. Trading my bonnet for a passport, I’ve spent my adult life exploring the world and having grand adventures with my husband and son.
Now, armed with historians, archaeologists, and Egyptologists who bring history to life, I can’t help but be inspired to share adventurous tales with others, inspired by events like this:
My husband, Gord, is driving on the wrong side of the road, through the Scottish Highlands. It’s just like you’d imagine—craggy hills, ancient trees, herds of sheep in almost every field, and cattle so enormous you stop the car to take photographs of them.
Although not open to the public, we were able to spend the night in the tower room of an old castle.
Located between Inverness and Nairn, the tower was built in 1460. It’s near Loch Ness, Culloden Battle Field, and Clava Cairns standing stones.
All throughout the Highlands you can feel magic in the air, quickly understanding why so many legends come from this part of the world. I wonder if we’ll stumble upon Brigadoon, the enchanted village that appears for one day every hundred years. Believe me; I’ll dance around the heather with Gene Kelly in a heartbeat.
After arriving at the castle, we were led up flights of stairs through the main house, passing grand rooms, including a dining hall that seemed frozen in time for three centuries. You could almost sense the echoes of past lives lingering in the corridors. In fact, Mary, Queen of Scots once graced these halls in 1562, and Bonnie Prince Charlie sought refuge here for four days before the Battle of Culloden.
The rest of the time, it’s the strangest feeling—being in an empty castle with a handful of staff we only hear, but never see.
We reach the top floor of the mansion house, now entering the stone tower through a heavy door.
We follow a steep spiral staircase as it continues up, up, up.
Behind a low, arched doorway is our chamber. Inside is an enormous medieval looking bed, the likes of which haven’t been seen since Ebenezer Scrooge’s time.
It’s incredible, looking out the window way up in our tower. Just call me Rapunzel, because that’s who I feel like.
But, come night-time, amusement turns into apprehension. You see…I need to go pee!
Of course, there’s isn’t a toilet in the tower.
In the pitch black, the arched wooden door in our room seems eerie, like a portal.
I tiptoe over and slowly open it.
The cold, stone staircase beyond is now terrifying.
If I’m ever going to encounter a ghost, it’s going to be here. I need to head out of the room, into the stone stairwell, and back into the mansion house for the nearest bathroom. Honestly, I don’t know what’s scarier: the way the ancient tower stairs disappear into the darkness or the corridors in the house at night. They look like the setting in some gothic novel—Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre.
I’ve absolutely zero intention of running into the ghosts of either Heathcliff or Bertha Mason.
Forget that.
I jump back into bed.
I’ll hold it ‘till morning.
The next day, we set sail on Loch Ness.
A lone piper plays as we drift off into the mist, searching for Nessie. The cold, inky water moves in a way that makes you feel like something is following the boat from the depths of the loch. Every ripple and wave causes you to do a double-take.
“Are those humps in the distance?” my son and I wonder.
Just like the castle ghosts the night before, if there was ever going to be a mythical creature on Earth, it would be here. No wonder Nessie sightings date all the way back to the sixth century.
What stands out about the Scottish Highlands most is that everything seems only half in our world—the other in some sort of fairyland. Even the sky feels different, as though it's reaching down to caress the earth.
So, if you ever find yourself in the Highlands of Scotland, go with a sense of wonder. Better yet, bring a child. Who knows? The standing stones might buzz, Nessie could appear on the crest of a wave, and it might even be the day Brigadoon and its villagers appear in our world.
And I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised.
Title The Acadian Secret (Book 1)
Author Tammy Lowe
Genre Tween/YA Time Travel
Publisher The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb:
Nova Scotia has kept an incredible secret for centuries. In 1795, sixteen-year-old John Smith, convinced he’s found buried treasure, digs down into a mysterious pit on a small island.
In present day Nova Scotia, twelve-year-old Elisabeth London knows there’s no such thing as magic, but when she finds herself in seventeenth-century Scotland, she no longer knows what to think. While under the guardianship of a kind-hearted Highlander, Elisabeth discovers his ancestral home holds a mystery of its own.
As John continues to dig the strange pit, he inadvertently begins the longest running, most expensive, and deadliest treasure hunt in history. Now, Elisabeth London and John Smith each try to unravel the secrets consuming them, unaware that a tormented young man holds the string weaving all of their lives together.
For Elisabeth, the adventure is just beginning. Unless her parents discover she’s time-travelling. Then…she is so grounded.
Excerpt:
In the late afternoon sunshine, the man’s shoulders curled over his chest as he walked the familiar tree-lined street. The avenue bloomed in a profusion of spring blossoms. With a lump in his throat, he realized it hadn’t changed much in appearance over time.
Kind of like him.
Instead of horses and buggies, cars now drove past. Flowers overflowing from window boxes still decorated the colorful houses and shops, chimes still rang over doorways, and people still chatted as they strolled along the main road.
When Elisabeth and her mother stepped out of the pizzeria and stopped in front of the tiny antique shop, the man’s blue eyes clouded with tears. His brows pulled in as she pointed to an object on display in the window before dragging her mother inside. A few minutes later they walked back out.
The man’s chest hitched. What have I done? Dear God, what have I done?
He knew what was in the package tucked under her arm. A crystal timepiece, disguised as a simple necklace.
He wanted to scream, but he was a shell, empty inside except for the pain. This was the price to be paid. He must live, but live in hell, condemned to the prison of his own making until the day he could make everything right again.
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yh736vtp
Chapters Indigo: https://tinyurl.com/29494tw2
Goodreads: https://tinyurl.com/yuzbw33m
Title The Sleeping Giant (The Acadian Secret Book 2)
Author Tammy Lowe
Genre: YA Time Travel
Book Blurb
When a tormented man begs 17-year-old Elisabeth London to travel back in time to save his life, she reluctantly agrees. Assuming Scotland is the destination, she ends up in Ancient Rome instead.
The good news is she finds the man; now a bold 17-year-old named Aquarius. The bad news is he’s an indentured slave, sentenced to death in the arena, and doesn’t even know her yet. Elisabeth helps Aquarius escape and becomes an outlaw herself. Armed with her wits and his rock sling, the new friends are on the run from a relentless slave dealer, Rufus Leptis.
Elisabeth soon realizes she’s not here to save Aquarius from Rufus, but from the doomed city of Pompeii. Although trying to be brave, the thought of remaining in Aquarius’ swashbuckling world a minute longer than necessary is inconceivable.
At least, it used to be.
Before that darn, happy-go-lucky slave stole her heart.
Excerpt
The thundering sounds all around them seemed to fade into the distance as Elisabeth stood pinned against the side of the cliff. Her gaze darted up to the grassy overhang. There were only two ways off this ledge; the tunnel or the rushing river that would sweep them over the falls within seconds. About to hyperventilate, Elisabeth buried her face in David’s back. Every millisecond moved at an unbearable speed. She held her breath as the inevitable moment drew nearer. Their only chance would be if Rufus didn’t step outside of the tunnel, but that would take a miracle. David looked prepared to fight, but from the side of a mountain ledge with a giant of a man? That could end up a bigger disaster.
She pushed a pile of rocks aside with her foot and shuffled as far along the ledge as possible so David could step back and they’d be flush against the wall. When they heard Rufus grumbling, she knew he had to be near the end of the tunnel. Her leg muscles tightened. Elisabeth wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go.
He was so close.
Too close.
She dared not look to see if he had walked onto the ledge. He would only need to step outside to see them.
What was that noise?
Hissing?
Elisabeth felt the color drain from her face, and then turned ever so slightly to look at the ground beside her.
She gasped, and the sound of her heartbeat thrashed in her ears. If anyone thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, they’d be wrong. Coiled at her feet, next to the dislodged rock, was a snake, looking as startled as Elisabeth. Her mouth fell open, repulsed, but unable to look away from the creature.
“No…no…no…” she whimpered.
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/5fyv3zfy
Chapters Indigo: https://tinyurl.com/28473nbc
Goodreads: https://tinyurl.com/mr25rev9
Title Rise Like A Phoenix (The Acadian Secret: Book 3)
Author Tammy Lowe
Genre YA/Time Travel
Book Blurb
When Elisabeth London travels back in time to the 14th century, she is transported to a world straight out of the pages of a fairy-tale. Swept away by the adventure and romance, Elisabeth follows her heart—and Aquarius—into this whole new world.
But Elisabeth soon learns her father has discovered where (or rather when) she is. He’s sent a bounty-hunter to bring her home. Although a million questions buzz through her mind, there’s one thing she’s certain of—her parents will never let her hang out in the 14th century with a guy she met in Ancient Rome.
With her heart at stake, can Elisabeth avoid the bounty-hunter and find a way to stay in this fairy-tale world?
Or is her love-life about to take a rather grim twist?
Find out in Elisabeth London’s timeless story of love, danger, and adventure.
Excerpt:
When Crooked Nose punched, David blocked. Then, with a quick elbow movement, he smacked the man’s face with the end of the rope before stepping back. The effect was rather comical.
Crooked threw another punch.
David pounced, wrapping the rope around the man’s wrist. Yanking the tied arm back made him double over. His eyes turned cold and hard. “Who sent you?”
The man’s breath sawed in and out. “You’ve no idea whose daughter you’ve run away with, do you?”
He pulled Crooked’s arm straight back some more. “Enlighten me.”
“Make her tell you,” he hissed.
David swallowed a lump in his throat. “She hides nothing from me.” He then snapped the man’s arm at the elbow, and grabbed Elisabeth’s hand, pulling her to a run.
Her breath hitched, and the colorful bouquet of wildflowers dropped.
“By the gods!” David led the way through a field of grazing sheep, toward a grove of trees. “Your father is here?”
“No…” She shook her head in denial. “No, he can’t be…can he?”
“You tell me!”
Elisabeth let out an uncontrollable whimper.
If Dad found out she was time-traveling—she was so grounded.
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/2fja2bzu
Chapters Indigo: https://tinyurl.com/2rm2wbwv
Goodreads: https://tinyurl.com/4mpv45s6
Author Biography:
An adventurer at heart, Tammy has explored ruins in Rome, Pompeii, and Istanbul (Constantinople) with historians and archaeologists.
She’s slept in the tower of a 15th century castle in Scotland, climbed down the cramped tunnels of Egyptian pyramids, scaled the Sydney Harbour Bridge, sailed on a tiny raft down the Yulong River in rural China, dined at a Bedouin camp in the Arabian Desert, and escaped from head-hunters in the South Pacific.
I suppose one could say her own childhood wish of time traveling adventures came true…in a roundabout way.
Social Media Links
Website: www.tammylowe.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsmetammylowe/