An entrancing and highly unusual account of a journey to the ends of the earth in search of a dream.
Imogen Herrad sets off in search of the descendants of the nineteenth-century colony of Welsh settlers in Patagonia, in the deep south of Argentina, and discovers that Welsh-speaking communities, proud of their heritage, still exist there today. She also discovers a country and a way of life hugely different from her European experience.
Her explorations lead Herrad beyond the Welsh to discover the even more remarkable story of the Mapuche, Tehuelche and other indigenous tribes, who have suffered the all too familiar fate of colonised peoples. This unexpected direction gives Herrad a new perspective on her own life and those of others, as she ends her travels standing on a Patagonian hillside, part of an ancient Mapuche ceremony of the land.
Arvustused
Reflective, descriptive and quirky, this is a riveting read. Christoph Fischer
Born and brought up in Germany, Imogen Herrad has also lived in London and in Argentina, and currently divides her time between Cardiff and Cologne. She writes in German and English. Her short stories and articles (in English) have been published in magazines and anthologies in Wales, Canada and the US. She is the author of The Woman Who Loved an Octopus and other stories, a collection of stories about female Celtic saints. Her programmes for German public radio (in German) include pieces about the Queen of Sheba, Morgan le Fay, Zora Neale Hurston, the Mapuche people of Patagonia, and the cultural histories of sheep, dragons, the apple and hermaphrodites, respectively.
