echo the ancients

by Colette Obrien

The Minoans lived on the island of Crete from 4000 to 1500 BC, when they disappeared without a trace.
In Echo the Ancients, fourteen-year-old Gloria is living there in 1954. Her father is studying the archaeological remains of the ancient culture that was rediscovered in the early twentieth century. Although the Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea is bright and sunny, Gloria lives under the dark shadow of her emotionally and mentally disturbed mother.
Worried about his lonely, withdrawn daughter, Gloria’s father hires a local woman, Andromache, to be her tutor and companion. As Gloria struggles to discover who she is and where she’s going while meeting the demands of her mother’s illness, Andromache brightens her world with an intricate tale about people in a fascinating culture that worshipped the Great Goddess and valued love, community, art, and nature.

466 pages, Paperback

Published November 17, 2015

About the author

Holding a master’s in clinical psychology, Colette Obrien has practiced as a psychotherapist for thirty years, with an emphasis on the exploration of dreams and myths along with the development of the feminine in both the individual and the collective.

She has authored the historical novels: Time and Transformation, The Nobility of the Robe, and most recently, Echo the Ancients. All of her novels reflect her interest in spiritual and psychological growth with an emphasis on feminine development.

She’s been a travel writer and photographer for twenty years, publishing in newspapers and magazines throughout the United States and
Canada.

Colette is a member of Left Coast Writers in Larkspur, California, Baipa, and a presenter for the California Travel Writers Conference.

She lives in Mill Valley, California, with her dog and ca,t and her three grown children live nearby.

Reviews

[Lora]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and will review once I've read it.

[Janet Reindl-bransfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from a Goodreads give-away. I liked the book. Fascinating look at an ancient culture with advanced beliefs interspersed with a story taking place in mid-20th century. I thought the author did a good job with character development and the flow of the two story lines. I do think that the book could have used tighter editing - some of the descriptions were overly flowery and seemed almost adolescent in nature - like something that a student in a high school freshman English writing class would have written.