Cassady MacCain is 21 years old and when we first meet her she’s living in Kingman, Arizona, a sun bleached desert town at the crossroads of Interstate 40 and Route 66.

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Scrappy, funny, and determined, she has learned the hard way that every time she starts to get ahead, life has a way of slamming the door in her face.

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Born in the mountains of North Carolina, Cassady was the daughter of James, a plumber, and Carmen, a teacher. Her early childhood was idyllic: hunting and hiking with her father, listening as her mother read books to her far beyond her age, and cheering with her dad for the North Carolina Tar Heels on television. But then, when she was nine, a propane leak caused an explosion that destroyed their home. Cassady, who had an eerie premonition, survived. Her parents did not.

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Sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Oklahoma, she grew up with constant reminders that she was a burden. Still, she worked hard, made good grades, and even found a boyfriend, Sam. She clung to the belief that her parents’ life insurance policy would carry her to the University of North Carolina and a future she could build for herself.

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However, right before graduation, she discovered that her aunt and uncle had used that money to buy themselves a condo in Fort Lauderdale. What was worse, they believed they deserved every penny and showed no remorse. They kicked Cassady out, though to be honest Cassady would never have spent another night under their roof. She headed over to Sam’s house seeking comfort. Instead she received a full on view of Sam in bed with one of her friends, Brittany.

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Distraught, Cassady climbed into her father’s old ’97 Jeep Cherokee, the last tangible piece of her parents she owned, and drove west on I-40. She intended to make it to California, but the Jeep broke down outside Kingman. With no money, she took a job at a local care home to cover the repairs. Four years later, she is still there - bills overdue, her job perpetually on thin ice.

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Her closest bonds are with the residents she cares for, especially ninety-seven-year-old Eunice. Outside of work, her passion is climbing in the Hualapai Mountains. A self-taught but gifted climber, she often scales sheer faces without a rope. At the summit, anything feels possible - yet deep down she fears she isn’t special, that her chance in life has already come and gone.

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Then Alistair Lyall, a mysterious Scotsman with a plummy English accent, arrives in Kingman with incredible news: Cassady is the 26th Duchess of Strathmourne and Chieftain of Clan MacCain. It hardly seems possible – more incredible even than winning the lottery.

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However, it’s not only true but not even the half of it. For little does Cassady know that Clan MacCain has been engaged in a titanic struggle with the forces of evil for over a thousand years.

 

At its heart, Clanswoman is a story about destiny and choice — about how the call we are meant to follow often arrives when we least expect it, demanding more than we believe we can give.

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For Cassady, the journey is not simply about inheriting a title or leading a clan, but about discovering who she is, finding her place in a world she never imagined, and summoning the courage to fight for it.