Tangled Spirits

Winner of the 2023 Florida Authors and Publishers Association Silver Award for Historical Fiction

Kate Shanahan skillfully blends fictional and historical figures and events into this captivating time-slip tale of magic, imperial intrigue, and a friendship that spans a thousand years. 

2019: Mina Cooper's study abroad in Japan has given her the independence she craves. But while meditating in a power spot on a sacred mountain, Mina's spirit is drawn into the distant past - and into someone else's body.

999: Desperately lonely after her mother and sister die in an epidemic, aspiring shaman Lady Masako enters the spirit world to contact them. Unable to control her powers, she leaves in a panic, but pulls Mina back with her.

After a struggle for control and a failed exorcism, the two spirits agree to cooperate long enough to get help from the famous diviner Abe no Seimei, the only person powerful enough to send Mina home.

But his help comes at a cost. And the longer Mina waits to pay it, the greater the risk her spirit will fuse with Masako's and she'll never get home.

Journey to Japan's Golden Age, where a scheming regent and a famous sorcerer exert power over an innocent empress, and historical writers Sei Shonagon and Murasaki Shikibu are ladies-in-waiting to rival empresses at the imperial court.

 For readers who love time travel fiction, historical fantasy, and books based on Asian mythology.