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Fiction 8: Biography
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Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle ' . V ‘ {7 ‘ _" 4 ‘_' C/ass/C novels Bantam $318.99 on. rem/ted. Th/s Issue: The Call of the W/ld Published :71: 1.051%; 52;;::. What’s the story? 11m
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Having built up a solid reputation as a writer of uncompromising crime fiction, Glasgow’s Manda Scott has done something of a U-turn, bringing forth the first installment in an
‘ ' ° ' l ,< ., ( . e ambitious trilogy about warrior queen, I \ Boudica. Or is it Boudicca? Or Boadicea? Oh, “A; I” 1, ( let’s call the whole thing off. B“: I u I .5: \ ‘
Scott’s infatuation with the near_mythical ‘r\ puwcrfui nmrl .tliw “iii! lmc. du‘ml. wisdom and the lit-min of lunimniu.' “ g \ \ O . 1st century warrior is not in itself difficult to H AN M I l H grasp. As the leader of the Ecini Celts in Roman Britain, this ancient heroine
commanded her people in a furious rebellion . "M I} ' . . . ."(1 / ' A ' J A \_/ ( against the armies of Claudius, only 3".” . . / Lt: "' ‘1} . . . ., I succumbing after a tenacuous two-year ' A 'j‘ ‘ 1
campaign. But whereas the Boudica of
popular folklore invokes the image of an ‘ m A ‘ \f Amazonian charioteer, Scott’s passion and ' ‘ n ' '1‘ : ‘ H H imagination have been zealously engaged in ’ W j a painstaking reconstruction of an entire than” A; . society and culture of tribal Britain. " "'"V‘D‘quzn
Episode one begins in appropriately ' H ' f" bloodthirsty style, with 12-year-old Breaca ’
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overcoming the Invader who kills her mother. ‘ I! A respected warrior from this early age, , ' ' ' ‘ ‘ I ‘ Breaca’s much-cherished ambition is to , ‘j' “
sharpen her skills as a visionary, or ‘dreamer’, like her friend and constant _ , , I
companion, Airmid. But Breaca’s rite of h J" . ' I. i -:: 2 : "Y . j ; , .- : 52‘“:"’“}"":" o‘" passage into womanhood - as well as her A” f I L IL ‘ . I V. , "I". $er...7... riff, . _-
brother’s predictions- reveals that the gods I“. ” t ‘" r ' ~ -
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have a very different destiny in store for her. ' ‘‘‘‘ " ' ~~~ From here we follow the girl’s graduation to Scott zealously engages with the culture of tribal Britain ' ' V ‘ S J community leader, culminating in her being ‘3; \ x ‘ 53 ‘ ' ‘7' proclaimed Boudica, the Bringer of Victory. fact that Scott’s lengthy, involved tale is told entirely A *‘ ‘ Throughout, the author evocativer creates the lively without humour. 5’:wa ' (’ world of the Ecini in miniature detail. When Breaca Readers familiar with the bare and bloodied bones of ooooo H“ r' \ ' C" k " crawls through the gorse to inform the community of this tale may find themselves skimming entire, heavily ' ’ ' ‘3“ A B" ‘ ‘ ‘ ' the elder grandmother‘s demise at the claws of an descriptive passages in search of some much needed ' ‘ We 5
angry eagle, we experience every tear of her skin and action. Mercifully, the occasional tedium is relieved by " 1 nick of her clothes. And in a powerful shipwreck scene, Boudica’s intermittent, dramatic clashes with upstart POStCFIDt
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the merchant Luain’s seasickness is rendered in vivid combatants from rival tribes, set-pieces like the .."l"'-i‘,ifii..::".{?Cl. ‘. x I: shades of bile green and yellow. shipwreck and the tender scenes between the young maria ' ’1 1’. To
But the author’s total immersion in her subject is warrior and her confidants. w ‘ <= Er'v .- w 9 ° occasionally alienating, particularly in the early stages For those with the patience to stick with this flawed " :1, ext-:2" 0," when Ecini rituals and beliefs are long-windedly passed epic, Boudica breeds reward and frustration in equal '1" <7 "é: T "4? {,m ~ In? ‘ down from elders to Breaca and her insightful half- measure, though Scott’s regular fan base may not 7 i‘-'~'~'7' '5’" x 1' ~~ T brother Ban. The stately pace is exacerbated by the exactly be left gagging for part two. (Allan Radcliffe)
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