The Serpent awakens. The portal opens. An ancient villain shatters Tessa’s perfect world.

Fresh out of grad school and stepping into her chosen career, Tessa Madigan is humbled to inherit her uncle’s home on Balboa Island, but overwhelmed by the messy, expensive restoration. Thankfully, her new friend is good with his hands—in more ways than one.When she discovers a bag of jewelry in her uncle’s basement, which matches the description of artifacts stolen from a museum during WWII, she knows she should report the find to the authorities.But a serpent coil bracelet calls to her from the cache, and she can’t resist trying it on.The instant the golden snake warms to her skin, a veil drops on the present as it slithers up her arm, opening a window to an ancient past: An innocent slave girl on the auction block. A brutally handsome Praetorian guard. And hands drenched in blood.Tessa rips the bracelet off her arm, vowing to report the find and never put it on again. But she can’t deny a compelling connection to the slave girl. Will Tessa give in to the magical lure of the serpent’s coil?Tessa’s journey to find The Cloisonné Brooch is the first foray into the past in the spine-tingling Serpent’s Coil Time Travel Romance series. Grab your copy today.

What People Say

“Kat Drennan’s The Cloisonne Brooch (2020) incorporates a time-travel twist that sends a contemporary woman, Tess Madigan, back to the year 324 C.E. during the reign of Constantine. Tess experiences the era in the body of an enslaved girl, Kindra, who crafts exquisite jewelry. Where there are gems, thieves are sure to follow, and Tess/Kindra embarks on a time-hopping scramble to prevent malefactors from gaining possession of the titular piece of bling…” – Arthur Smith, Indie Editor, Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2024

Inspiration

The Cloisonne Brooch was a long time in the writing–more than twenty years. I knew after the first couple of drafts that I needed to develop my craft to a much higher level before I could to it justice. It was all about the jewelry…

Working in an explosives lab at an aerospace firm in Sacramento, I was in charge of keeping the technical library for the facility. Most of the publications in the library were way over my head, but there were a number of monthly magazines that I could not resist. Aurum magazine was a favorite because in addition to articles about the industrial uses of gold, there was a monthly article on gold in antiquities.  I’d spend my lunch hour there and one day, an image of a gold find dated to be around 300 ad caught my attention. The story streamed into my head like drinking from a firehose!  I couldn’t write the scenes down fast enough!  Like I said, I worked on it on and off for many years as I wrote 10 other books.

Here’s an early cover idea. I actually liked this one, but I was unable to get permission to use the snake bracelet. (It is in a private collection housed at the Getty Museum in LA.) But this IS the bracelet I saw when I wrote the scenes.

I was able to get permission to use the brooch that ended up on the cover of the Book 1, which is housed in Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, in Netherlands. This brooch has an amazing true story of its own. You can learn more about it HERE.