THE CROW GODDESS.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn, and no price-clip to dw/dj.Colour pictorial illustrated wrap-around artwork by Sue Hunter,with minimal shelf-wear and negligible creasing to edges - no nicks or tears and no off-set foxing to immaculate plain white endpapers. Minimal fading to dw/dj spine/backstrip but no bumping to head+foot of spine/backstrip but a miniscule chip to rear top edge.Top edge very lightly dust-soiled,but not to the normal degree,fore-edge clean and contents tight and pristine.Unblemished,black paper-covered boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate, clean,plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+ dw/dj,1st edn,9-338pp includes title page,author's
note, a b/w map (Roman Britain+Ireland c.AD 117) and 1pp key,an epilogue,a 4pp list of proper names,a 4pp glossary and historical note as last page.
After her memorable debut with 'A Shadow of Gulls' [see rja1819],which received overwhelming critical acclaim, Patricia Finney continues Lugh the Harper's story.Having sworn never to return to Ireland,Lugh has settled in Britian and become blood brother to a Roman legionary officer in the North.Through him,he acquires an even more influential friend: the Emperor Hadrian himself.Hadrian,for his own ends,is determined to send Lugh back to Ireland; Lugh is resolved not to go.His love for a beautiful warrior-druidess binds him to Britain,whereas in Ireland broods his enemy Queen Maeve,an aspect of the terrible Crow Goddess of destruction.
And the destruction she has vowed to encompass is Lugh's.Torn by conflicting loyalties - to his Roman allies and his own half-Roman heritage,as well as to his old friend and hero Cuchulain - Lugh is drawn into another cycle of battle,love and betrayal,aided once again by the mysterious sidhe-folk,who are hidden yet everywhere. Celts, Romans and the vengeful Crow Goddess engage in bitter strife that makes the second century perceptibly blood brother to our own.
Patricia Finney's solidly researched historical background, her imaginative use of Irish legend, and the humour, pathos and poetry of her swift story make this concluding volume of Lugh's narrative an experience as memorable as the first - all the more so for being the work of an author who is still only nineteen (then 1978). See also rja1819.An extremely elusive,scarce book,particularly in as high a grade as this - a superb copy.
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