Bending the Boyne: A Novel of Ancient Ireland by J.S. Dunn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Bending The Boyne is set around 2200BCE in Eire (Ireland) Here live simple folk, stone-cutters, potters, weavers and Star-watchers. These people live with the land and learn from the stars. They have mounds built and carve on stones, they celebrate the Equinoxes and plot shifts of the moon and the sun.
The people of the river Boyne watch as invaders come in boats across the sea in search of copper and gold. The invaders are harsh, brutal and do not understand the simple star-watchers, they declare ownership of the land and tax the people of their crops and animals.
Boann and Cian are the future of the star-watcher people, they both realise that progress is inevitable and change happens, but they go about helping their people in different ways. Boann marries the invader Elcmar and tries to keep an alliance between the two peoples. She is a strong woman who defies the rules the invaders try to bind her by and she always looks out for the star-watchers.
Cian in turn tries to learn the warrior and trading ways of the invaders. He travels to the copper mining areas and learns the art of trading. He crosses the seas to Europe listening and learning. He learns about the value of gold and why the invaders search Eire for the precious metal. He seeks the knowledge so that his people may one day fight the invaders for their rights.
This book draws on myths and legends from many sources as well as historical evidence handed down through the generations. Very in-depth about star-gazing and ancient mounds and megaliths.
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