image of person or book cover 3200949657339502047.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon The Meeting of the Waters single work   novel   historical fiction   fantasy  
Is part of The Watchers Trilogy 2000-2001 series - author novel (number 1 in series)
Issue Details: First known date: 2000... 2000 The Meeting of the Waters
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Brave, copper-haired Aoife was the daughter of a king, a bold young woman full of life and mischief. But on one winter's night she and her brothers took part in an act of careless mischief with consequences they could never have imagined -- and a deadly blood price must be paid. In the forests to the west, a deadly force is stirring. Off the shores of Innisfail, a new enemy is fast approaching. The druid Dalan has been sent to unite two squabbling kings in the face of this overwhelming force, but chaos and confusion confront him at every turn. As dangerous bargains are made and broken, and truces struck and disregarded, Dalan begins to suspect that an even greater enemy is moving against Innisfail. The last of the Watchers are growing bored. But mortals are an interesting game'. Source: Google books website.

Exhibitions

21348202
18667821

Australian Popular Medievalism

Australian Popular Medievalism logo
This text has been selected for the Australian Popular Medievalism dataset.
Reference: Direct
Importance: High

Notes

  • Dedication: For my Guardian Angel
  • Author's note:

    In the gentle glow of firelight ad old man, his hands hardened from a lifetime of tilling the soil, warmed himself against the winter. His eyes brightened as I opened a bottle and found a seat opposite him. He told me that no one listened to his stories these days. By the time that bottle of whiskey was gone I had heard one or two of his tales, but I'm certain he kept the best stories to himself.

    Music and storytelling have been a part of my life since childhood. My grandmother was a talented tale-weaver who had a gift for meshing different stories together. Her style was to overlap her tales into one long legend that explained the origins of the Irish people. In the early 1980s I travelled to Ireland and there was privileged to meet some very fine storytellers. The legends and anecdotes I heard inspired me to record as much as possible. In my enthusiasm I filled notebooks with wise and humorous sayings I picked up, as well as the general gist of some fascinating tales.

    When I returned to Australia I put the notes away and got on with earning a degree in the arts. It was ten years before I looked at the scribblings again. By that time I had a much better knowledge of folklore and the storyteller's craft.

    Then by a remarkable chance, almost as if it had happened in one of those stories, I met a mentor who would become my literary agent: Selwa Anthony. She suggested I write a story based on some of the tales I had collected, At first I envisaged a much broader storyline which incorporated the origins of the mystical Tuatha-De0Denaan and their traditional rivals the Fir-Bolg. I even planned to end the tale in the time of the Viking incursions into Ireland.

    But as I had no idea whether the first book would ever be taken up or even prove popular, I decided to focus on just one small section of the story. So it was I started the long tale in the middle with the arrival in Eirinn of Bishop Palladius, the first Roman missionary, in the fifth century after Christ. The Circle and the Cross was so well received I soon had an offer to complete a trilogy. By the time The Song of the Earth was published my first novel was already a bestseller and the last in the Wanderers series, The Water of Life was in preparation.

    Now I'm getting on with the rest of the story.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • East Roseville, Chatswood - Gordon - Castlecrag area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Earthlight , 2001 .
      image of person or book cover 1033130234144697688.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: viii, 477 p.p.
      Description: illus., maps
      ISBN: 073181021X
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Earthlight ,
      2003 .
      image of person or book cover 7280613976009104646.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: viii, 477 p.p.
      ISBN: 0743468538 (pbk.)

Works about this Work

Clash of the Ancients Stephen Dedman , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 22 May 2001; (p. 14)

— Review of The Meeting of the Waters Caiseal Mor , 2000 single work novel
Clash of the Ancients Stephen Dedman , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 22 May 2001; (p. 14)

— Review of The Meeting of the Waters Caiseal Mor , 2000 single work novel
Last amended 9 Mar 2020 15:26:02
Settings:
  • c
    Ireland,
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • 400-499
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X