Winter Sun
Winter Sun is a novel set in ancient Ireland, in the year 3022 BCE – 5,000 years ago. Briona, a young woman from a small village in the Wicklow Mountains, sets out with her childhood friend on a journey to Newgrange, where she will lay her birthstone on the mound and enter the great Chamber on the morning of Winter Solstice. Unknown to her she has been chosen by the stars to save her people from destruction. But along the way she falls in love with a visitor from overseas who wants Briona to leave her people. Briona must choose between love and destiny. Ancient myths and legends are woven alongside astrology, dream-sharing, prophecy and healing in this otherworldly and visionary novel. Briona tells her story in the first person using her own unique language, and as she learns more about her own culture over the course of the novel we develop our understanding.
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The novel is inspired by the wonderful legacy left by our ancestors of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, and the many stone cairns, stone circles, standing stones that are scattered all over the country. They are so well built and often decorated with the beautiful artwork that is familiar to us – spirals, circles, wavy lines, diamonds and so much more. When we look at Newgrange or Knowth we can see the beauty and feel the mysticism. We enter a world where people live in harmony with nature and believe in the healing power of the life force (called Beo, Irish for Life, similar to Chi), which they channel through stone.
Connecting with New Grange
I am craving with stone onto rock, but not as good as these spirals at New Grange!
