Nectar From a Stone
By Jane Guill
Paperback $15.00; ISBN 0743264797; 464 pp.
Touchstone; March 2005
Book Review by Kathleen Cunningham Guler
Jane Guill’s debut novel, Nectar From a Stone, tells the intertwining stories of a young widow seeking redemption and
a noblemen’s quest for revenge. In 1351, the plague has devastated Europe, Wales is a country subjugated by English oppression, superstition runs rampant, and the medieval church blames women for just about anything it perceives as sinful.
Elise, a half-Welsh, half-English woman plagued by strange visions, is forced to stab her brutal husband in self-defense. Believing him dead, she flees with her servant, Annora, for Conwy, hoping to find work and peace. Gwydion, also half-Welsh, half-English, is a brooding nobleman on his way to Conwy as well, seeking vengeance against those who murdered his family and seized his estate. He and Elise cross paths on the road north and against better judgment, are inexorably drawn to each. As each reaches their destination, a dark and cruel shadow from Elise’s past begins to catch up, sweeping her and Gwydion into a terrifying confrontation with their enemies.
Nectar From a Stone is a fascinating window into medieval Welsh life. Impeccable research and lively characters bring both the place and time alive, illustrating the depth to which war, illness, the church and superstition played in everyday life. Elise and Gwydion are endearing, and Annora is a delight with her wry humor—a nice balance against
the cruelty of Elise’s evil husband Maelgwn and Gwydion’s conspiratorial foes. Jane Guill’s intelligent, rich portrayal of medieval Wales is told with charm, wit, and masterful storytelling.
Alison’s
Legacy
By Toby Heathcotte
Paperback $15.00, ISBN: 0964088223, 297 pp.
Mardel Books, Feb 2000
Book review by Kathleen Cunningham Guler
Alison’s Legacy, the first book in the Alma Chronicle Series, deftly explores the harrowing social and political climate a woman faced in eighteenth century England through the absorbing story of Alison McPhearson, a Scottish immigrant living in an English village near Salisbury. An innkeeper, Alison is left pregnant and abandoned by a brutal husband. In a time when women had absolutely no rights, she is faced each day with the danger that she could be shunted off to the desolate streets of London — a death sentence in itself — just for being with child and having no more husband, for showing sympathy to the Jacobites, or for her friendship with Judith, a woodswoman and seer.
Alison challenges the unfairness of life with stoic courage. She hides her pregnancy and the birth of her son, Lainn; learns to read, write and cipher; and successfully runs the inn alone. Judith, her mentor, becomes foster mother to Lainn, who also
shows signs of being a seer. Alison learns that the church ignores the notion of reincarnation, but as she meets and finds love in an English officer, Thomas Whitfield, she comes to realize through vague memories and dreams that she, Thomas, Judith, Lainn and her brutal husband have all been together before and must rectify past mistakes.
In Alison’s Legacy, Toby Heathcotte creates immediate sympathy for Alison’s plight right from the first page. Alison’s courage to remain independent is believable because she does not defy the social system — she cannot, not without causing her own death and that of her son’s and her mentor’s. Instead she finds creative ways to work around it. The concept of reincarnation is well woven into the story as part of an older form of spirituality. Powerful scenes fill this intriguing book, illustrating the lack of rights and unfair consequences for women of the era, just for having plain bad luck.
Lainn’s Destiny is the second book in the Alma Chronicle Series and tells the story of Lainn MacPhearson, who dedicates his life to the ideal of freedom. Picking up where the first book,
Alison’s Legacy, leaves off, Lainn and his Scottish mother, Alison, both Jacobite sympathizers, flee to the American colonies in 1746 to avoid English persecution.
As a young child in England, Lainn had learned that a great destiny awaits him. Once in America, he finds inspiration in a Scottish warrior who survived the slaughter at Culloden then helped slaves and others escape persecution in the colonies.
Desiring to embrace similar noble deeds, Lainn searches for an occupation that will lead him to his destiny. He becomes a printer’s apprentice, a soldier, a doctor, even a writer. But as he is saddled with a spiteful, alcoholic wife and witnesses the unending injustices of hatred, prejudice, and greed, he begins to question whether he will ever realize this goal.
As in the first book of this series, the issue of reincarnation binds the characters together. In the course of his search for his true purpose, Lainn comes to realize his destiny lies not only in the current life he is living, but also in the interconnected past and future, and through the loved ones and enemies to whom he is bound. Toby Heathcotte’s strong, well-crafted characters transcend a mere tale of the hardships of colonial life — they define the American quest for freedom from oppression that people of Celtic descent have experienced in their homelands for centuries only too well.
The Princes of Ireland:
The Dublin Saga
Edward Rutherfurd
Doubleday, Mar 2004, $27.95, 776 pp.
ISBN: 0385502869
Reviewed
by Harriet Klausner
The first of two
tomes to cover the history of Ireland especially in Dublin, THE PRINCES OF
IRELAND is a deep look at life in Eire from about A.D. 430 until the early
sixteenth century, just on the verge of the Renaissance. The book actually
contains a series of anecdotal stories starting in pre-Christian Ireland in the
fifth century when a heartbreaking romance occurred between a maiden and a
Celtic warrior. Two decades later St. Patrick arrives brining with him
Christianity. Five years after the St. Patrick “invasion”, the Vikings sail
to the Emerald Isle. Other major events and some not so significant in Irish
history are told until 1537.
As he did with LONDON
(two millennium in the history of that city, Edward Rutherfurd provides the same
treatment to Ireland except this time there will be two volumes with the first
book covering eleven hundred years of history. Mr. Rutherfurd uses historical
events to bring to life major periods in Dublin, but in each case the narrative
serves as a means to enhance the deep look at a particular era. The time and
place come first so that this tome is targeted more for extreme history lovers
who want the facts, but those who do will receive a first rate treatment.
Harriet Klausner was born in the Bronx where she obtained a Masters in Library Science. While working in bookstores and with the library, her book reviewing career began to take shape. She takes immense pleasure informing other readers about newcomers or unknown authors who have written superb novels.
1949
is the third book in Morgan Llywelyn’s Historical Fiction series around
Ireland’s struggle for independence. It is not necessary to read 1916 and 1921
to follow 1949, although it might help when reference is made to significant
events from previous periods, especially if you have little knowledge of Irish
history. Llywelyn is working on the next book, 1972.
1949 picks
up approximately two years past the Irish Civil War. Red haired, blued eyed
Ursula Jervis Halloran is 16 years of age and riding her horse Saoirse (Irish
for “Freedom”) in Clare, Ireland; where she grew up on a farm with her
father Ned (lead character 1916) and his Aunt Norah. She has received a
letter from her pseudo-uncle Henry Mooney (lead character 1921) beckoning
her to visit him and his wife Ella in Dublin. Against her fathers wishes she “sneaks
off to Dublin without telling anyone.”
When Ursula returns
to the farm she informs her family she is going away to school in Switzerland,
thanks to Ella’s kind gift. Ned forbids it but she reminds him she is only his
foster child and that she will do as she pleases, a path she follows throughout
her life. Despite being adopted she has a strong bond with Ned and is deeply
hurt by his anger. She leaves with business left unfinished between them.
On arrival in
Switzerland, she learns it is finishing school, much to her chagrin. But being
of beauty and great personality she quickly befriends the upper crust whom she
continues to correspond with after she leaves at age 18.
Ursula returns to
Ireland. “An Ireland lacking in luxuries Europeans took for granted and many
of the basic amenities as well. Ireland with its fixed ideas about good and
evil, Celt and Saxon, Catholic and Protestant. Republican and Free Stater.”
Llywelyn is
successful in painting the life of Ursula, a working class woman in a country
trying to free itself from “foreign domination.” With each chapter Llywelyn
brings the reader into the fold to watch a girl blossom into a woman. She is
strong willed from beginning. In a society where women are to be seen and not
heard Ursula stands on her own two feet in full sun, determined to make it on
her own. She does not let anyone push her into the shadows of male servitude.
Llywelyn has created a memorable role model for women.
Ursula was not
without her own role models. Constance Markievicz voice spoke to Ursula when she
said, “Take up your responsibilities and be prepared to go your own way
depending for safety on your own courage, your own truth and your own common
sense.” This statement is true to Ursula’s code to life.
Comments like, “Unfortunately,
you are a woman,” are behind every door Ursula opens but she doesn’t allow
them to sway her own views and desires. While other women’s interests revolved
around hair and beauty products, Ursula cultivated her strong feminine and
political views. Her contacts, interest in politics and occurrences abroad land
her a job at 2RN Radio Station. She is not permitted to broadcast as “Only the
male voice is really suitable for broadcasting.” Her schooling, meticulous
letter writing to Henry, and to her acquaintances abroad, attribute to her
success at 2RN and later with the League of Nations in Geneva. To work women had
to be single or widowed, otherwise they were told to stay home with their
children. Ursula vowed never to marry but that didn’t stop the love triangle
formation between traditional Irishman Finbar Cassidy and extravagant Englishman
Lewis Baines.
1949
contains plenty of Irish politics as well as British Propaganda and the issuance
of Hitler and the Second World War from an Irish perspective which is just as
horrifying as all others. Llywelyn doesn’t focus on the Catholic Church’s
impact on Irish society like other authors have in the past but its presence is
clear. Politics and freedom from state are crucial.
Llywelyn’s
characters are not idle bodies but great thinkers. In one of his letters to
Ursula Henry poses the question, “Does war fuel the armaments industry, or
does the armaments industry fuel war?” What a brilliant question, even in
these times. Ursula’s father makes a poignant revelation as he’s writing in
his journal, “Sometimes it seemed that the fighting had become more important
than the winning. A way of life, an end in itself.”
Tension mounts as the
war hits closer to Ursula affecting her and the people she holds dear. 1949
is not all doom and gloom. Morgan’s wit is seen throughout in subtle glimpses
as are tenderness, sexual fire and intense anger. One of my favourites is her
mention of the “traditional Irish savings bank: under the mattress.”
You can expect to
learn a few Irish words like goster (chat; small talk) and seisiun (traditional
music session) or learn of Irish traditions like keening (an “eerie singsong
cadence, and unearthly wail” by the women for the dead.)
Passages of Ursula’s
life are entwined with passages of Ireland’s history. There are large patches
without dialogue and I often felt I was getting a history lesson rather than
reading a novel but this was fleeting.
There is a “Dramatis
Personae” of fictional and historical characters in the first few pages.
Another nice feature is the historical date markers. You are never without a
doubt as to the timeline. Research and sources appear in the back. Having not
grown up in the confines of Ireland’s history I found it hard to keep the
different groups and parties straight. It would have been nice to have a break
down of each party, what they represented, length of existence etc...to refer
to. The chapters are short, making it a great book for people on the move with
limited time.
Llywelyn finishes
this story with the “inauguration of the Republic of Ireland” on April 18th
1949. There are no loose ends but possibilities exist to gently tug the reader
into the next book. I look forward to reading about the period leading up to
1972.
M. E. Wood is a
writer living in Eastern Ontario with her husband and their menagerie of
animals. She is working on her first book and enjoys writing poetry, articles
and reviews. Visit M. E. Wood’s site at
http://www.m-e-wood.com
to read more of her writing.
Up
until 1907, Dierdre O’Coigligh lived on the impoverish
Great
Blasket
Island
off the
Irish
Coast
until she was fourteen when her parents died.She feared the sea and never crossed it until her grandmother left her
with no choice. The teen orphan was dumped at the Enfant de Marie Convent on the
mainland because her grandmother insisted that she was too old to raise a young
lass.
At
the Convent, Dierdre meets wealthy novice Bairbre O'Breen, a widowed mother who
is a key benefactor.Through Mrs.
O’Breen, Deirdre meets Bairbre's brother Manus, an architecture student.He falls in love with Dierdre-and his mother feels she is acceptable as a
daughter-in-law.Instead of
becoming a nun, seventeen years old Deirdre agrees to marry Manus. After
the ceremony, they move to a house in
Dublin
that his mother furnished.They
have two delightful daughters, but Mrs. O'Breen demands a grandson who will be a
priest regardless of how the lad or his parents feel because the matriarch has
secret scandals that need heavenly intervention to remedy.
THE
MARRIAGE BED is a very lucid look at
Ireland
in the years just prior to World War One.The story line provides the reader with a picturesque glimpse at middle
class life and the influence of family on members.Though the secrets seem minor and Mrs. O’Breen’s demands seem easily
shrugged off and ignored (maybe this reviewer is the anachronism as perhaps I am
using a liberated twenty-first century lens), Regina McBride provides a colorful
character study that makes 1910-1914 thriving as if the reader is in Dublin
right before the Great War.
Harriet Klausner was born in the Bronx where she obtained a Masters in Library Science. While working in bookstores and with the library, her book reviewing career began to take shape. She takes immense pleasure informing other readers about newcomers or unknown authors who have written superb novels.
Nectar From a Stone
Alison’s
Legacy
Lainn’s
Destiny
The Princes of Ireland:
The Dublin Saga
The
Marriage Bed