Bøker av Sparhawk Hutchins

And the Hills Replied is a story of one man's strange encounter during a 2005 vacation in Scotland to pay homage to his ancestors, where he stumbles upon a missing link in his genealogy. Sparhawk Hutchins's historical fantasy is a whirlwind adventure into the past. A mix of Scottish mythology and history, this debut novel opens with fifty-eight-year-old Sparhawk, who is determined to find out whether he truly descended from King Robert I, and to learn more about Sir Thomas, who is the missing Middle Ages link in his genealogical history. Sparhawk comes across some letters written in 1939 by one of his relatives. In them, he finds stories about Queen of Scotland Elizabeth de Burgh and her mysterious time-travelingadventures. Hutchins opens each chapter with poetry that gives a foretaste of what lies ahead, which is an appreciated extra touch to this captivating narrative. While Sparhawk is featured as the narrator at the beginning and end of the novel, many of the interim chapters vacillate between first-and third-person voices to describe Elizabeth's time-travel encounters. Her journeys take her from the Tower of Babel to the era of Moses and Pharaoh, then fast-forwarding to the Middle ages, and back to 1939 before the story comes full circle to 2005. Hutchins keeps his story line moving and very interesting by grouping segments within chapters, utilizing changes in narrative voice, and mixing storytelling with the richness of Scottish mythology and history. Although Hutchins's novel centers on Scota's Stone (known over the centuries as the stone used in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland), he includes a plethora of historical characters that tie in with this epic artifact. For example, Niul, the Prince of Scythia, who marries Pharaoh's daughter Scota-the mythological founders of Ireland and Scotland, respectively-and King Edward, who captures the stone and keeps it under his throne. Hutchins also meticulously integrates apt imagery of biblical times and the Middle Ages throughout his storytelling. Whether he's describing the lush and verdant hills of Scotland, hideous battle scenes, characters' clothing, or specific character traits, Hutchins's depictions clearly portray each time period. Hutchins has produced a novel that is not only a wonderful read for those who love historical fiction, but also a great addition to Scottish and history collections.ANITA LOCK (October 15, 2014) Foreword Clarion Reviews.

And the Hills Replied is a story of one man's strange encounter during a 2005 vacation in Scotland to pay homage to his ancestors, where he stumbles upon a missing link in his genealogy. Sparhawk Hutchins's historical fantasy is a whirlwind adventure into the past. A mix of Scottish mythology and history, this debut novel opens with fifty-eight-year-old Sparhawk, who is determined to find out whether he truly descended from King Robert I, and to learn more about Sir Thomas, who is the missing Middle Ages link in his genealogical history. Sparhawk comes across some letters written in 1939 by one of his relatives. In them, he finds stories about Queen of Scotland Elizabeth de Burgh and her mysterious time-travelingadventures. Hutchins opens each chapter with poetry that gives a foretaste of what lies ahead, which is an appreciated extra touch to this captivating narrative. While Sparhawk is featured as the narrator at the beginning and end of the novel, many of the interim chapters vacillate between first-and third-person voices to describe Elizabeth's time-travel encounters. Her journeys take her from the Tower of Babel to the era of Moses and Pharaoh, then fast-forwarding to the Middle ages, and back to 1939 before the story comes full circle to 2005. Hutchins keeps his story line moving and very interesting by grouping segments within chapters, utilizing changes in narrative voice, and mixing storytelling with the richness of Scottish mythology and history. Although Hutchins's novel centers on Scota's Stone (known over the centuries as the stone used in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland), he includes a plethora of historical characters that tie in with this epic artifact. For example, Niul, the Prince of Scythia, who marries Pharaoh's daughter Scota-the mythological founders of Ireland and Scotland, respectively-and King Edward, who captures the stone and keeps it under his throne. Hutchins also meticulously integrates apt imagery of biblical times and the Middle Ages throughout his storytelling. Whether he's describing the lush and verdant hills of Scotland, hideous battle scenes, characters' clothing, or specific character traits, Hutchins's depictions clearly portray each time period. Hutchins has produced a novel that is not only a wonderful read for those who love historical fiction, but also a great addition to Scottish and history collections.ANITA LOCK (October 15, 2014) Foreword Clarion Reviews.

Prodded by a childhood haunting, an ostensible descendant of KING ROBERT I, the Bruce of Scotland, takes a side road to his mother's family burial ground at the Dunfermline Abbey in Scotland to pay homage. Enlightenment prompts him to join in the seven-century-old debate over the proximity of his progenitor, Sir Thomas de Bruys, to the King.Near the end of the eighteenth dynasty in Egypt, a bold daughter of a heretic Pharaoh flees after turning an infant-THE SENTINEL, to stone, using powers inherited from an Egyptian goddess. Millennia later in 1306, where the hills reply to the cries of the lost hunter's horn, thirty-two-year-old ROBERT seizes the throne of Scotland by an act of sacrilege-enabled by his Church, a black knight, and the Countess who crowned him. His twenty-two-year-old wife and QUEEN, Elizabeth de Burgh, confronts rivalry with the Countess while fearing destruction by her father's best friend-the mercurial Edward I (Longshanks), King of England. While shepherding her seven-year old stepdaughter, MARJORIE, to safety after ROBERT flees, she calls out for the SENTINEL of pharaoh's daughter to rescue them but fails. Excommunicated and imprisoned, the deprived QUEEN falls to starvation and delirium, but rescued by a manipulative man from Jerusalem-her jailor-he dumps an infant onto her lap, as hers. Fearing the child is the SENTINEL, or ROBERT's son by the Countess, she names him THOMAS. Over seven years of confinement, from a decrepit Manor House in Yorkshire, England to the grandeur of Windsor Castle, THOMAS grows to genius while keeping the QUEEN intact as she drifts between alternate realities and plays mind games with her jailor about her plight. In the meanwhile, MARJORIE toils in a separate prison and is threatened by evil forces that followed pharaoh's daughter out of Egypt. While ROBERT and his black knight crush the English army, MARJORIE reunites with the QUEEN, but remains damaged from harsh confinement. THOMAS guides her to the light, enabling her to unleash the powers she'd inherited from pharaoh's daughter. Victory in 1314 reunites ROBERT with his QUEEN and MARJORIE, but THOMAS'S introduction to him rejected; the King presses the Countess for the truth about him. Reconciliation and absolution follow heartbreaking loss and THOMAS begins a new life with a new title and a new Marjorie.