From My Bookshelf....by Lynn Willoughby

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The Land of Painted Caves ~ Jean Auel
This book is the conclusion of the Earth's Children series set during the last ice age. The first in the series - The Clan of the Cave Bear is a book many of you will remember.

In this novel, Ayla, Jondalar and their infant daughter Jonayla do a lot of travelling. Ayla has been chosen as an acolyte and during her training to become a spiritual leader, she must visit the sacred places - many of which are caves adorned by paintings done by the ancient ones.

I have enjoyed these books for the wealth of information they contain regarding edible wild vegetables. Gathering roots, leaves, stems or rhizomes in order to survive is part of Ayla's everyday world. What she really specializes in, is the healing herbs she uses to make teas, pastes and various decoctions for a variety of everyday ailments or to remain healthy - treatments for stomach aches, contraception, toothaches, heart problems, inducing labour, stopping bleeding, anesthetics for setting bones, antiseptics to promote healing.
The varieties and uses of animals hunted primarily for meat - aurochs, bison, deer is fascinating. Mammoths, rhinoceros, bears, wolverines and lions have their uses too - for furs, cooking and eating utensils, musical instruments and decorative beads and jewellery. Flint knapping and the skill in finding proper flint and successfully making the best knives, arrowheads and spearheads is equally interesting.
Summer Meeting and the socializing, customs, rites, mating ceremonies and decision making for the group makes history come alive. Their societal norms are the result of having to cooperate as a group with those from other caves if anyone is to survive in this harsh and unforgiving land.

Auel has done extensive research for which she has won many awards. Her details get tedious at times, but I found myself skimming those parts and moving on to the more interesting narrative. It has been a fascinating series and a glimpse back in time to see what life was like for people we feel we know.
    The Clan of the Cave Bear
    The Valley of Horses
……and all the others in the eight book series.

The Tenth Gift ~ Jane Johnson
Thank you Ms Johnson for this novel - it contains many of my favourite things - mystery, history and embroidery. For me it was a great read!

Julia Lovat receives a gift of a 17th century book containing embroidery patterns. Included in the margins are faint diary entries written in very tiny handwriting. Julia delves into the story of Cat, finding that she and 60 other Cornishmen were taken captive by Muslim pirates from a church in 1625, transported to Morocco and auctioned off as slaves. Julia, herself, travels to North Africa to determine the authenticity of the little book.
The story moves between the centuries and I enjoyed reading about Cat's life as well as Julia's. There is so much history and the viewpoints of two women, two timelines and two very different cultures kept me reading well into the night. Cat's needlepoint skills stand her in good stead for stitching men's wounds as well as making her valuable chattel. Pirates, inter-faith clashes, wonderful lush descriptions of Morocco - then and now - these two stories are stitched skillfully together. Descriptions of threads, fabrics, patterns, inventiveness and the necessity of embroidery by the two women who live 400 years apart are threaded so well together, how can you possibly stop reading?
    Crossed Bones
    The Salt Road


Who Knew?
Embroidery is the art of decorating fabric or other materials by stitching designs using yarn and a needle. Semi precious stones, sequins, beads, bones, quills, gold and silver threads are sometimes used. Embroidered clothes have long been a symbol of wealth.