Moyra Caldecott (1927–2015)
Author of Women in Celtic Myth: Tales of Extraordinary Women from the Ancient Celtic Tradition
About the Author
Image credit: Portrait by Anthea Toorchen (1992)
Series
Works by Moyra Caldecott
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Caldecott, Moyra
- Legal name
- Caldecott, Moyra
- Birthdate
- 1927-06-01
- Date of death
- 2015-05-23
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Pretoria, South Africa
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
Bath, Somerset, England, UK - Occupations
- author
- Relationships
- Caldecott, Oliver (husband)
Members
Reviews
This is one of my favorite novels set in Minoan Crete. It has a fresh dramatic liveliness that's very fitting.
Moyra Caldecott takes the legends and myths of Ireland, Wales and Scotland and tells some fo the stories of women from these myths, retelling the stories in her own words and then talking about some of the meanings and roots of the stories and what she can see behind the story.
It's an interesting read, if only for the stories, the interpretation is also quite interesting and does look at the myths and talk about their universality and how they would be a teaching tool.
It's an interesting read, if only for the stories, the interpretation is also quite interesting and does look at the myths and talk about their universality and how they would be a teaching tool.
This starts out promisingly enough as a Celtic princess is out hunting with her betrothed and ends up following an enchanted stag. Unfortunately from there things seen to go in strange directions. There are also disturbing scenes that don't seem to add much to the story.
There are flashes of good reading here and some of the characters seemed promising but in the end, as there are some ideas that didn't sit well with me, I was left feeling uncomfortable.
There are flashes of good reading here and some of the characters seemed promising but in the end, as there are some ideas that didn't sit well with me, I was left feeling uncomfortable.
Lists
Ancient Crete (1)
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Statistics
- Works
- 30
- Members
- 890
- Popularity
- #28,791
- Rating
- 3.2
- Reviews
- 5
- ISBNs
- 152
- Languages
- 2
- Favorited
- 1
In short, she sounded like an interesting, strong, historical Anglo-Saxon woman. This book educated me on the facts of her life, and I am pretty sure the author got her chronology correct, even though she never mentioned the stole for St. Cuthbert.
But it was not an engaging book. It felt like a recital of events, peppered with a large cast of characters with unfamiliar names. And in most cases, any particular name showed up only briefly. This book could have been a family history from a geneology site, but it was not an engaging story.
It is more pleasant than a timeline, but only barely. The author does not make us care particularly about Etheldreda, who is portrayed woodenly, but better than any of the supporting characters to her story.
Recommended only to those who wish to know more about the facts of her life, with a little background in the politics of England in the 600s. Not recommended to the general reader.… (more)