Bending the Boyne: A Novel of Ancient Ireland Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm Irish and, on being lured by the blurb of this book, was a little afraid that I was going to find just another tale written about old Ireland from an outsider's point of view.
However, since reading it I have found it winding itself around my memory and my heart. It's different from anything I've ever read before on the ancient history of Ireland. In fact, while there are quirky bits of history inserted like pebbles into the landscape of the story, it concerns not mere history, but the myths and legends that are deeply rooted in our past.
The many and varied characters make no concession to their place in this mythical/historical setting. They live their lives as they would have all those years ago, uncaring of the modern reader. That is not to say that the story is disdainful of readers, but that it is uncompromising in its pursuit of the mythical truths that underlie all really good historical novels.
The Boyne of the title is the river that winds through the heart of Ireland and its history. It was at the Battle of the Boyne that the forces of the Catholic King James and Protestant King William met in a clash that echoes down the centuries and has left its mark on the whole society of Ireland, north and south.
J. S. Dunn's delightful novel shows the sowing of the first seeds of conflict between invaders and native Irish, or those who preceded them. It harks back to a time when myth and history were one, as they remain in our subconscious to this day. The natives are shown to be thoughtful, wise astronomers, with their eyes firmly fixed on the skies for signs of the modern Ireland that must surely have appeared to them in visions and dreams. Yet they will not yield their land to the more down-to-earth and less wise invaders, who seek gold not for its relationship to the sun, but for the power and earthly wealth it can bring them.


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Circa 2200 BCE: Changes rocking the Continent reach Eire with the dawning Bronze Age. Well before any Celts, marauders invade the island seeking copper and gold. The young astronomer Boann and the enigmatic Cian need all their wits and courage to save their people and their great Boyne mounds, when long bronze knives challenge the peaceful native starwatchers. Banished to far coasts, Cian discovers how to outwit the invaders at their own game. Tensions on Eire between new and old cultures and between Boann, Elcmar, and her son Aengus, ultimately explode. What emerges from the rubble of battle are the legends of Ireland s beginnings in a totally new light. Bending The Boyne draws on 21st century archaeology to show the lasting impact when early metal mining and trade take hold along north Atlantic coasts. Carved megaliths and stunning gold artifacts, from the Pyrenees up to the Boyne, come to life in this researched historical fiction. ...A useful fleshing of the bones of an interesting archaeological story. William O Brien, PhD, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. ...Bang-on with the latest archaeological debates. Peter Clark, MIFA, Director, The Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, Kent, UK.

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