Against A Darkening Sky
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- ¥1,100
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- ¥1,100
発行者による作品情報
From the author of the acclaimed Our Daily Bread and The Empty Room comes a rich and fascinating new novel of mysterious, magic-riddled 7th-century England: Against A Darkening Sky transports the reader to a rich yet violent past where a young woman is torn between her deepest beliefs and her desire to belong in a changing world.
Wilona, the lone survivor of a plague that has wiped out her people, makes her way across the moors to a new life in the village of Ad Gefrin, where she is apprenticed to Touilt, a revered healer and seeress. She blossoms under Touilt's tutelage and will one day take her place, but as an outsider, she is viewed with suspicion by all except Margawn, a warrior in the lord's hall. When the king proclaims a conversion to the new Christian religion, Ad Gefrin becomes a dangerous place for Wilona and Touilt. Their very lives are at risk as the villagers embrace the new faith and turn against the old ways, even as Wilona's relationship with Margawn grows. Wilona's fate becomes intertwined with that of Egan, a monk sent to Ad Gefrin as part of the Christian mission; both will see their faith and their loyalties tested.
Torn between her deepest beliefs and a desire to belong in a confusing, changing world, Wilona must battle for survival, dignity and love against overwhelming odds. Seamlessly combining timeless choices and struggles and rich, nuanced historical detail that brings pagan Britain to life, Against a Darkening Sky is an exquisitely rendered work of fiction from one of Canada's most acclaimed and celebrated novelists.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Davis (Our Daily Bread) takes readers to seventh-century Northumbria as great change sweeps the land and long-held pagan traditions are threatened by the arrival of Christianity. In the village of Ad Gefrin, this tension is depicted through the eyes of Wilona, a strong-willed apprentice seithkona (or "spell woman"), and Egan, a zealous but good-hearted Christian monk. Despite their opposing faiths, there are many parallels between Wilona and Egan, as both were led to their spirituality at a young age, and both honor their beliefs with a conviction that many others cannot understand. However, while Wilona is trained by Touilt, the village seithkona, to heal with plants and runes, recite sacred charms, and commune with the elemental spirits, Egan studies Latin, meditates upon Christian prayer, and prostrates himself to feel closer to God. When Egan arrives in Ad Gefrin to promote the Christian mission, Wilona and Touilt come up against growing distrust from their once-loyal neighbors and intensifying pressure to join in forsaking their ancestral gods. Set against an otherworldly, intimate backdrop, Davis's tale vividly brings to life a near-mythic period of British history while speaking to universal human experience.
