I have been reading a lot today. And crying a lot. Jean Auel’s last book, The Land of Painted Caves,[1] goes into the gory detail of becoming a shaman. The chosen one. True to the tradition of untold millennia and places, the chosen ones do not choose. Powerful as they are destined to become, they are thrust into their rôle willy-nilly. True tragedy if there ever has been one. And from the very beginning of time as we know it. Whence the profuse tears, of course. Most are for the main character in the Earth’s Children series, a woman to behold and cherish, but some are for the author herself. When she started on her own journey many years ago, she had no idea where it would take her. Her main character led the way.

Footnote

1. New York: Bantam Books, 2011.