Title: Dreamquest
Author: Janet Wellington
Published in May 2004 by Dorchester’s LoveSpell
Genre: Time Travel.
ISBN: 0-505-52592-5
The dreams were disturbing on so many levels, that Suzanne Lucas had no way of understanding what was happening. Places that were very familiar are suddenly more, a sense of déjà vu surrounding all. She finds herself deep in the dream, seeing familiar things, and yet strange things. Things are progressing or getting worse, however you choose to look at it, and all because now it seems as though the dreams are really hallucinations of the waking world as well. That latest dream was a doozy, and she turns to her best friend Robin to help her with a possible meaning of these bizarre and almost upsetting dreams. The calls to her always helped. She wished she could remember, wanted to remember. No, it went beyond that. She desperately needed to understand what was happening to her, what was haunting her, and also the why. Robin was leaving San Diego for New York soon, following her boyfriend who hoped to make it big in the theatre. She was sad, she would miss her, but Suzanne know that she also had a big decision to make, one that could set her on a whole new career path.
The trip to the canyon was just what she needed, and as always, she would have the time to reflect on the decision. It was important to consider this position carefully, but part of her wanted to say no without hesitation. Her instinct keeps telling her it would play the most important part in her life. She has been offered a great opportunity, and is considering the move to a well-funded northern California college. Susanne would have the sole responsibility of establishing and heading their new ethnobotany department. They needed her decision by the end of the weekend, if possible, and the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park was the one place that she could think in peace. She needed the calm and the solitude that it would bring, the feeling of homecoming and comfort she always felt there. There she would be able to clear her head and reach the best decision for herself and hopefully her career. It would also give her a chance at what may be her final trip to the canyon, and a memory of her beloved desert to take with her to the pine shrouded forest where she would make her new home.
The boy grew to be a man, and as a man, he possesses a loathing for his father for the trouble he had brought to the tribe. His father was always working for the whites, and Coyote could not understand the pull. Even when his father came with the gifts of the white man’s cloth, and other trade goods, he rebelled. As the boy grew to manhood, he trusted in his grandfather, for it was to him that Coyote confessed the dreams of the white girl, the one he thought of as White Bird. His grandfather has always counseled him well, and the old medicine man had understood about the girl from the first dreams Coyote told. He has always said that she was special, and must be protected. Grandfather had saved her a long time ago, and said it was now his time, but Coyote doesn’t understand. He sets out on the dream quest as he had so many years before. Then the rattlesnake had spoken and he had been tested. He followed the path his grandfather had laid for him once again, and headed for the canyon, the stop that grandfather had said he must make before he continued on.
Coyote could not understand what Grandfather referred to when he told him it was his time to save White Bird. Little did he know what would happen as he came to the pool in the canyon. He was unprepared to see the signs of habitation in the cave, and sp he placed his possessions in the accustomed places, not seeing, blind to the unexpected. Even as skilled a Coyote is as a warrior, a hunter, and in the lore and medicines of his people, the training is far from complete. The dream quest was one of many tasks he had to fulfill to become a healer. He knew grandfather was aware of his anger, and how it often interfered with his concentration, his awareness, and his soul. So much attention was given to White Bird, a white woman. He was seeking his path in life, and he needed the dream quest to help him find his way to his destiny. He has set his feet on the path to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, and he hopes that the dream quest will confirm his path at least is true. As for the rest, it will be seen, but his musings are drawn up short by the white bird that he sees by the pool. As the bird’s flight path takes it across the pool, Coyote is surprised to see the woman floating in the pool…
Welcome to one of Dorchester’s newest rising stars, Janet Wellington. In her book Dreamquest, she has given us a time travel that is intriguing, and a love story filled with everything a good story needs. We have Suzanne Lucas, smart, intelligent, and a bright star in the field of ethnobotany. She was raised in the San Diego area, and learned to love the adjacent desert landscape, camping and hiking with her parents, and being immersed in the beauty found there. We also have Coyote, Kumeyaay warrior, healer, and a man destined to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps as the medicine man to his people. When they meet it is in dreams, neither one knows the significance they will play in each other’s life, but the time is coming for destiny to take a hand. Suzanne is once again caught in an earthquake, the window is opened and fate leads her through.
Janet has constructed an interesting tale of misunderstanding and the anger of a young Indian as he grows up seeing the damage the white men can do. It is through the guidance of his Grandfather that Coyote learns wisdom, patience, the skills to become a medicine man, and the ways of dealing with his anger and his distrust. It is through the elder that Coyote is brought to see the meaning of the dream quest he must undertake, and the realization that White Bird is not the inconvenience that he has assumes, but the woman whom his heart desires. His destiny is with her, and as time has brought them together, it can just as easily tear them apart. I must say, Dorchester has pulled another winner from the pile in the story told in Dreamquest. It is well written, easy to read, and thoroughly enchanting. It is a page-turner I could not put down, so kudos to Janet, and thanks for a wonderful story of loves lost and found in time. Dreamquest is available soon, if not here already, from Dorchester Publishing [http://www.dorchesterpub.com/]. Look for Dreamquest in your favourite bookstore very soon. I don’t think you will be disappointed.
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
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