Why Irish AND Incan Mythology? Because the Real Story Demanded Both.

When people hear about my debut novel, the first question is almost always the same: Why Irish and Incan mythology together?

Fair question. On the surface, Ireland and Peru don't seem like they belong in the same sentence, let alone the same book. One conjures images of misty green hills and ancient stone circles. The other, towering Andes peaks and golden temples swallowed by jungle. Two cultures separated by an ocean, centuries, and worlds of difference.

But here's the thing — my family's real history connected them long before I ever picked up a pen.

A Love Story That Crossed Continents

My great-grandfather, Robert Patrick Kennedy, was Irish to his bones. And in the early 1800s, he traveled to Peru — not as a tourist, not as a missionary, but as a treasure hunter. He went searching for gold. What he found instead was a woman named Eudocia Rodrigues — and a life he never could have imagined.

Their love story is the heartbeat of this series. An Irishman and a Peruvian woman, bound together in a time when the world wasn't exactly welcoming of that kind of union. They built a family. They built a legacy. And they left behind a story that my grandmother carried with her for decades — until the night she woke me from a dead sleep and told me it was time to write it down.

So the mythology isn't a gimmick or a marketing hook. It's woven into the DNA of my family. The Irish myths came with Robert. The Incan legends came with Eudocia. To tell their story honestly, I needed both.

Two Mythologies, One Thread

What surprised me most during my research was how much these two traditions have in common. Both cultures believed in fate — the idea that unseen forces guide human lives toward a purpose. In Irish mythology, that's the Morrígan and the sovereignty goddesses who shape the destiny of warriors and kings. In Incan tradition, it's the power of Inti, Pachamama, and the spiritual forces that connect every living thing to the land.

Both cultures revered the earth and the sky. Both told stories of transformation, sacrifice, and the bonds that hold families together even when the world tries to tear them apart.

When I started building the world of this series, I didn't have to force these mythologies together. They reached for each other.

What Makes This Series Different

Most YA fantasy takes you through a portal into another world. I wanted to do something different. The magic in this series isn't hidden behind a wardrobe door or buried in a secret platform at a train station. It's here — in the jungles of Peru, in the hills of Ireland, in the blood that runs through the Kennedy family.

You don't need a mythical portal. Just a passport.

Cat Kennedy doesn't stumble into a fantasy world. She discovers that the real world is far more mythical and dangerous than she ever imagined — and that her family has been at the center of it for generations.

That's what excites me about this story. It's fantasy, but it's grounded in real places, real history, and a real family. My family.

The Journey Starts April 6th

The Lost City of Incan Gold is the first book in the Of Irish Myths & Incan Legends series, and it drops April 6, 2026. If you love found family, slow-burn romance, ancient mythology, and stories where the line between legend and reality disappears — this one's for you.

Follow the journey at @brigidkennedybooks or join the Legend Seekers at brigidkennedybooks.com.

The Fates have been watching. And they're not finished yet.