The Pathfinder (Kindle)
The Pathfinder (Kindle)
I dipped into my ancient Welsh Heritage and found a population of artists, singers,storytellers and path-makers and fighters - all reflections of my 21st Century preoccupations. So-o writing this historical novel was a very personal journey, full of joy. So I made this book trailer (click below) to let you know how much I have loved it.
In this post I include the following:
The Story/ Book Trailer/ Story extracts/ Elen of the Pathways/A Brigante Welcome/ Quintanius/ 5* Amazon Reviews/ Press Reviews of my novels
The Story
In
383 AD a truly great love story blossoms between Magnus Maximus, the Roman
leader in Britain - afterwards for five years Roman Emperor - and Elen,
daughter of a powerful British king in the place we now call Wales. Magnus is
fascinated by Elen, a gifted Seer and healer and a ‘pathfinder’ whose talented
ancestors made straight roads in Britain long before the Romans.
As
the Roman Empire begins to crumble the love between Elen and Magnus links the sophisticated
Celtic culture, with its esoteric rites and rituals as the pragmatic military culture of Rome now
imposes Christianity on the known world.
Trailer Click Arrow
Story Extracts for You
2. Elen of the Pathways:-
You should
understand that as well as being
born generations and trained as seers, members of my family have always been
pathfinders – my father, Eddu, his father, Caradoc, and the grandfathers and
grandmothers before him, going back seventeen generations …
… it was they
who found the paths that criss-cross this island and the lands across the sea. I
have learned that a thousand generations ago the pathways were slight, mere
shadows in the grass, reaching out and up to the horizon ….
… my father
has told me that, like him, task is to find the paths that lead to peace
between the clans and tribes and to make this island whole …
… our family
has the magic and means to deal with such malevolence and impiety. I learned
early from my father - and then more perfectly from my seer* teachers - that an
enemy’s malevolence can expose his weak side …
· ‘Druid’
… the
intricacy of the inherited magic in my family is reflected in the stories my
brother lleu and our father’s cousin Bryn – both trained by the seers – would sing
by the fire after the feasting. My
father Eddu and his grandfathers were seers. They were great kings whose wisdom
and power has always been known throughout the islands. I myself have skills in
magic from my schooling, although I’ve not been called upon to perform the pig-
or mouse-changing caper …
… my first
memory of actually using magic, as opposed to knowing and learning about it,
was the time I turned a girl into an owl.
Later in
story…
7 A Brigante Welcome
Elen: So we reach the dense Aclet Forest and, travelling along the far
end of our own straight path – now paved over by Caesar’s men – we arrive at my
grandfather’s house on the eve of his summer revels.
I feel at home when I see my mother’s birthplace, clearly the
house of a great Chief with its fine round hall, its round lodges, its
flower-strewn temples, its cattle and sheep pens and its storehouses for wool
and lead. My nose itches at the smell of smoke and roast pig and burnt honey.
Snow leaps down to the
ground and joins the other yelping dogs as they lead the way into the great
shadowy hall. This is such a cheery place! Light spurts from torches lining the
wall and the great central fire glints on the objects on the shelves around those
walls. These are laden with family treasures of finely worked silver and gold -
beautifully wrought figures, cauldrons
and buckets. The same light also flickers on the polished white skulls strung
in a long line between the roof beams – the heads of the enemies of my
grandfather. Some of these, I know, are those of his own grandfathers…
Later In Story
Quintanius: Now Magnus has the girl’s hair in his
hand and the maid stands up to look down at him where he sits, a scowl on her
fair face. He puts her rope of hair into her hand and for a moment it looks as
though he might kiss her. There is the shimmer of threat between them. Haven’t
I seen that many times? I feel tense, wondering if the maid has a weapon about
her. These British women are fierce and not averse to fighting as hard as their
men.
Amazon Star reviews of The Pathfinder
*****Magnum Opus, The past has never felt so real as in the last days of Roman Britain and the uneasy peace between natives and conquerors portrayed in Wendy Robertson's 'Pathfinder'. Heroine Elen is a beautifully drawn character uniting natives with the conquerors. Pathways lead in two directions and fey Elen's 'honeycomb' mind leads back centuries into the mists of time. But she is young and resourceful and her ordained path leads from her beloved coastal marshland of West Britain into Roman Gaul when the Roma nleader of Britain Magnus Maximus falls I love with the native girl, drawing her father and warrior brothers into his military schemes.
The book is
filled with believable,fascinating characters including Aunt Olwen a drowned
spirit, song-writer brother Lleu and Quin the faithful Roman devoted to both
Elen and Magnus Maximum. It is a delightful, thought provoking read and
I could not put it down. So many questions answered so many tantalisingly left.
Elen has a future in her homeland and I want to know more. ‘Erica’
*****Wendy Robertson is a consummate
practitioner of the crossover novel, one foot in the 'now' the other in the
'then' but with this book she has planted both feet firmly on the same
historical path and the results are wonderful. 'The
Pathfinder' has allowed me to bury two of my reading bête noirs. One is that I
don't like historical fiction, the other is that I avoid books that make me
cry. However this book has confounded both of these prejudices. I loved the
story, part fact, part fiction and I was genuinely moved - not manipulated- by
the beauty of the writing and the incredibly sad but uplifting ending. 'Anne’
****This is an imaginative and convincing recreation of life in
Roman Britain as the Empire crumbled. It reads almost like a fantasy novel,
while being thoroughly grounded in careful research. ‘Helen’
***** What a
treat! I have long been an aficionado of historical fiction, delighting in the
sensation of living in another time and place. The Pathfinder transported me to
a world of otherness, a world permeated by myths and mysteries, a world with
vastly differing constructs of reality. Within this well researched novel I
glimpsed not only the land of my forefathers but the people who populated it,
people who came to life as they lived and loved in a country I know well but within
a historical context I barely understood. Wendy Robertson is to be
congratulated on her diligent research of a less well known era of British
history, alongside her capacity to take the reader from a daily world dominated
by scientific concepts of the 21st century to the magical ethos permeating pre
and post Roman Britain. I walked in Elen's shoes. I observed through her eyes,
I empathized with her feelings - all thanks to the skill of the writer.’
Judith Mary’
(I would thank Clive Johnson for his meticulous proofreading of The Pathfinder. All us creative types need a meticulous proofreader...)
Press Reviews of my Work
‘A terrific read. A world on the cusp
of change and we experience it intimately.’ Historical
Novels Review.
‘A powerful writer.’ Mail on Sunday.
‘Wonderful…Robertson deftly intertwines two
time periods, slowly absorbing one into the other through the remarkably
likeable protagonist.’ Booklist USA.
‘A great storyteller… she weaves
another tale with ideas that still resonate when the story’s over.’ Northern Echo.
‘Wendy Robertson is a rare breed – a
writer with an exquisite gift for creating vivid, relatable characters.’ Scottish Daily Record.
Note: ‘ In The Pathfinder I have taken the
available material and archeological history of late fourth century Britain and
addressed the powerful pre-Arthurian myths of Macsen Wledig and the British
princess Elen. My intention is to weave a story that has hope, truth and
justice at its heart.’ Also I have used the word ‘Seers’, where others would
have said ‘Druids’ to avoid stereotypimg
Wendy Robertson
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