Like many kids, I loved picture books. Then I grew up, and words pretty much took over. But I never forgot how cool it was to actually see the characters and the scenes I was reading about. Even the black-and-white sketches in the Hardy Boys mysteries I was devouring as a 10-year-old would supercharge my imagination.
So it has been great fun to see the cast of The Secret Guardians come to life in the illustrations below. May you enjoy these glimpses of Jian and the remarkable souls she encounters along her way, as well as the worlds their adventures take them to.
Irish orphan Jian Byrne, our story’s heroine, records her memories in the refuge of the remote Hollow Tree cabin deep in the mountains of Montana.
The old Hollow Tree cabin in Montana’s Absaroka wilderness, where Jian’s long search for her missing parents takes on a new dimension.
At Saint Francis School, Anna Rusakov reaches out to troubled classmate Jian Byrne. It is here where their friendship begins, which will alter both their lives.
During an astounding journey beyond the physical world, Jian encounters a radiant saint whose instruction begins to expand her understanding of who and what she truly is.
Decades earlier, Jian’s Irish father, Sean Byrne, serves as a young soldier in the American army in Vietnam, where a liaison while on R&R changes the course of his life.
Also years earlier, Jian’s Taiwanese mother, Lin Dao-ming, addresses a packed East-West conference in Taipei. Her fresh perspectives on age-old, revered spiritual teachings attract much attention.
Jian’s out-of-body journeys continue. She is escorted to a heavenly retreat over India where a spiritual teacher prepares her for the challenges ahead.
American Luke Byrne, a friend of Anna and Jian and a graduate student in Belfast, moonlights as a musician at Molly’s Cozy, a popular local music venue.
A rustic cottage on Lough Neagh near the County Armagh village of Maghery in Northern Ireland becomes a refuge for Jian and her companions.
Working undercover in Istanbul, Jian’s brother Kaelin Byrne infiltrates the city’s criminal underworld as part of his mission to free girls who have been trafficked.
Trapped far from home, Ukrainian teenager Sofiy Tarasenko takes a daring leap to freedom that will set her on a path toward Jian and her friends.
At her home on the Welsh coast, Wren Bowen, who runs Operation Rescue to free trafficked girls and help them reclaim their lives, welcomes Jian, Luke and Anna into her world.
While sleeping at Bowen House, Jian journeys out of body to the wondrous Archeia Gardens, where she encounters the spiritual side of healing.
On a blustery winter night along England’s Channel coast, Jian and her companions prepare for a clandestine rescue operation.
As dawn breaks over the English Channel, Jian witnesses Nash Davis leave his earthly life behind and begin an extraordinary journey into the light.
In another scene from the past, Sean has returned from Vietnam and is attending the University of Michigan. On a perfect spring day in Ann Arbor, he reflects on some of life’s poignant questions with friend Jenna Poett.
After years of searching, Jian and Kaelin finally find their missing father in a nameless Taipei bar, only to discover a broken man almost unrecognizable from the father they imagined.
That night, shaken by seeing her father so defeated, Jian is escorted out of body to a university in the heaven worlds to help strengthen her faith that all will work out.
The illustrations on this page were created by me especially for The Secret Guardians. You’re welcome to share them for your personal use as long as you credit The Secret Guardians. If you’d like to use them commercially or publish them elsewhere, please contact me first.