I Heard the Owl Call My Name
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Mark Brian, a young Anglican priest who has not long to live, is sent to the Indian village of...
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From all over Europe from Scotland to the Mediterranean, from Hungary to Cornwall, Elisabeth Luard...
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Mobile Flora is a modern guide to plants. It has a newly developed scanner that helps you identify...
The White Goddess
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This labyrinthine and extraordinary book, first published more than fifty years ago, was the outcome...
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Celebrating the absurd with mock-tabloid satire, GrimmReport.com marries the reality of everyday...
ClareR (6106 KP) rated Sorrow Spring in Books
Jun 9, 2025
There’s a lot of scene setting: it’s 1978, and Rina has been unceremoniously left at her Aunt Agatha’s house by her mother. She has no more contact with her mother after this.
2019, and Rina’s niece, Cate, is searching for her aunt as her father is seriously ill and wants to see his sister for the last time.
But as Cate finds out more about her aunt, the more sinister are her findings and the more unfriendly the people she encounters.
There’s some ancient folklore, sketchy traditions and a rather interesting ending.
I listened to this on audiobook (Xigxag), which probably helped along the bits that tended to drag (1978 was a very talkative time), but all in all, this was a good read/ listen!
Brigid is the daughter of a slave and a chieftain, and she narrowly escapes marriage to a man she doesn’t want, when a goddess hears her prayers. She helps her from this point on, and this is where the blurring between goddess/ paganism and catholicism starts - in a good way.
Brigid builds her sisterhood, cloaks it in religion and makes a safe haven for women in what would have been a brutal time for them. One of my favourite themes, found family, is prominent in this, along with sisterhood and religious politics.
I’m off to find The Morrigan, and I’m hoping that Kim Curran will continue to introduce us to the Irish folklore that I know far too little about.
The Book of Practical Candle Magic: Includes Complete Instructions on Candle-Making, Anointing, Incense and Colour Symbolism, as Well as a Selection of Candle Rituals
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Remember the first time you blew out the candles on your birthday cake and made a wish? That was...
River Mimram
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The River Mimram rises from a spring to the north-west of Whitwell in North Hertfordshire and makes...
Grim Fandango Remastered
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Something's rotten in the land of the dead, and you're being played for a sucker. Meet Manny...

