occult

Wow! A hip National Geographic-type photographer around age 30, Geneva Becker keeps it real. Her sort of misty memories of childhood incidents (including her mother's disappearance) have always mildly haunted her, while she works very hard at her career and drives her Jeep Cherokee all over the country making beautiful photography, expressing her passion. A romantic interest or two, a mysterious Native American man who appears to sort of act as her "grandfather," Geneva's day-to-day issues such as grocery shopping and finding decent things to eat along the highways of the Southwest, coping with the loss of her family, having some bizarre and psychic dreams, and making a trip to discover more about her ancestral roots-- her mother's people-- all come together in this adventure novel that neatly jumps between the past and present, between uninhabited (well, almost!) Canyon de Chelley in Arizona and a little waterside town in Ireland and Geneva's Albuquerque stomping grounds. Fascinating! Well written. Worth your while. I'd compare it to "The DaVinci Code."

Dori Dalton takes us on an impressive 2,000-year 10,000-mile journey, where the heroine (Geneva) traverses the confines of time and space, back and forth from current day in the U.S. Southwest to ancient Druid/Celtic epic events in Ireland during the time of the Roman Empire. Geneva, as a modern-day independent-minded woman, provides for us the eyes that enable us to not only understand but also appreciate the mystical world of a Native American shaman as it its thrust into the equally mystical world of an ancient Druid priestess.

If these elements are "your cup of tea" you are in for a real treat. Most importantly, however, even if you are not usually interested by those themes, you are also in for a treat. At the end of the day, they are but the mere carriers of the wave. A very powerful wave, a very powerful story of self-discovery, courage, strength, wisdom, love, the yearning for learning about one's own roots, and maintaining one's own values, integrity and honor in the face of tremendously powerful forces. I said you are in for a treat, because Dalton manages to combine all these elements with the skill of a consummate storyteller. In short, this book has the potential to become a classic!

As if this were not enough, its attached CD, with music which obviously must have been composed expressly to accompany some of the chapters in the book, conjures the emotions and the "feel" of the written word in that uniquely powerful way, which only music can achieve.

Since this is a review, I feel compelled to search for something critical to say. The only comment that comes to mind is that I had wish for a second CD with additional music, ideally with one piece for every chapter. But, that would be icing on the cake. To conclude, go read --and listen to-- it soon, before the movie comes out and robs you of the opportunity to imagine these engaging characters as you see fit.

What a wonderful book! It provided hours of delightful reading. If you love the American Southwest (like I do), Native American Culture, Shamans and Celtic history, this is a book for you.
I love to wander the deserts of the southwest, taking photographs and enjoying the people and the incredible natural scenery. For this reason, I felt a real kinship with the book's heroine, Geneva.
Geneva is a photographer who is always on one adventure after another that takes her to a variety of locales.
I loved how the author wove the mixture of Native American history and culture together with the Celtic. I also learned tidbits about the Celts I did not know and it whetted my appetite to do additional reading in that area.
I especially liked the novel idea of combining a musical CD with a book of fiction. You can sit and read and listen to Native American flute and be transported to another time and place; and then play an Irish tune and imagine yourself on the Emerald Isle.
Kudos to Ms. Dalton on a book well done.