Sacred Ground
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Two thousand years ago, there was a great bay and a peaceful land filled with sage, citrus trees, and pine. And there was a tribe called the Topaa. Marimi, a healer in her tribe, is unprepared for what fate holds in store for her. Without her knowledge, her actions place her under the watchful, suspicious gaze of a rival...and Marimi's family is placed under a curse that impacts how their legacy unfolds. From prehistoric California to the days of Spanish explorers, from the time of California colonialism to the swashbuckling cowboy days of early Los Angeles and right up to the present day, Scared Ground tells the story of the female descendants of Marimi. It tells of their loves, their betrayals, their loses, their families, and their ruthless ambitions that would forge a new country.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a historically cloudy page-turner, Wood (Perfect Harmony) splices past and present, covering 2,000 years on the California coast. Erica Tyler, a talented anthropologist haunted by a professional mistake, sees the excavation of a collapsed pool in an exclusive Los Angeles suburb as an opportunity to restore her reputation. She persuades her reluctant boss to give her the case, even though she will have to work with Jared Black, an old adversary employed by a state agency that protects indigenous interests. In a parallel narrative, Marimi, a Topaa Indian, is expelled from her clan when she embarrasses the shaman by saving a young boy predicted to die. She and the boy, led by visions, walk for miles to an area they can settle. As Erica's dig proceeds, she meets opposition from the Indian community, local residents and the state; threats and violence soon follow. Complicating the dig further is Erica's powerful attraction to the enigmatic Jared. As each new artifact and clue is discovered, the narrative returns to the tale of Marimi's descendants, some of whom are blessed with foresight. Erica is driven to resolve the mystery of the site for personal reasons; raised in a series of foster homes, she is deeply conscious that she has no family history of her own. The novel concludes in the present, neatly twining all of the stories into an unsurprising but upbeat finale. Erica's theories are too consistently accurate to be plausible, and Wood does her readers a disservice by failing to provide better clarification of what is fact and fiction, but her fans will likely welcome this flawed yet engaging tale.
Customer Reviews
Sacred Ground
Barbara Wood is one of my favorite authors. This book is typical of her work, grabs you and won't let go! Such great writing and research make this a book to remember. I only wish that they would not end and that there were more.