This is a review of the three-volume series The Stone Stories which includes The Walrus Mutterer, The Amber Seeker, and The Lyre Dancers.
The first, The Walrus Mutterer, told from the point of view of Rian, a teenager living in Great Britain during the Iron Age (circa 320 BC) and being trained to become a priestess. She is loved, by at least some people in her foster family, though her foster father sells her to a greedy trader, Ussa, in exchange for a sword. Rian is branded, taken away, and placed on Ussa’s boat Ron. The crew goes off in search of the Walrus Mutterer, a great hunter of the big beasts. Rian is sold almost immediately to a fellow traveler. Rian’s owner is Pytheas, a Greek from Massalia (Marseilles). She remains a strong independent woman despite her enslavement and eventually meets and falls in love with the Walrus Mutterer.
The second, The Amber Seeker, is told from the point of view of Pytheas, starting when he leaves his home and follows him through his journeys in search of sources for tin, amber, and ivory. We see his interactions with his slave, Rian, from his point of view. Pytheas returns home. He is a rather ambivalent character, not evil, so much as confused by his own behavior with Rian, and he is, of course, rather self-aggrandizing and in denial of the reality of his behaviors.
The Lyre Dancers completes the series, and is told from the points of view of a middle-aged Rian, her daughters Soyea (by Pytheas) and Rona (by the Walrus Mutterer). It completes the love story between Rian and the Walrus Mutterer.
These books provide insight into women’s role in the Iron age and into ancient rituals and folklore as well as the Mother Earth religion. More than that, Mandy Haggith’s descriptions of the land, its harshness and beauty, are lyrical and sweeping; beyond that, her images of the sea, its currents, sky, and inhabitants (whales, walruses, fish, and seabirds) are truly moving. I’d classify this historical eco-fiction, beautifully written, and tugging modern hearts into a long-denied oneness with nature.
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The Stone Stories (The Walrus Mutterer, The Amber Seeker, and The Lyre Dancers) from Saraband Books is available through:
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