Palast der blauen Delphine: Roman

by Brigitte Riebe

The famous story of the Labyrinth of Crete, of Theseus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur, told from a matriarchal perspective. Asterios, son of Queen Pasiphaë and a bull dancer, becomes the first male priest of the Great Mother to wear a bull mask during sacrifices and will, according to the Oracle, rescue Crete from a threatening demise. Yet when he becomes entangles in the tragic love story with his half-sister Ariadne and nearly dies in a mortal duel with the Attican heir to the throne, Theseus, his prospects of success seem dim … Press “This novel by Brigitte Riebe is like a dreamlike return to a time when we all believed in tales of fantasy, or at least didn’t want to rule out that they might be true.” Sender Freies Berlin „A story as captivating as a murder mystery.“ Madame „Brigitte Riebe’s book Palace of the Blue Dolphins is for me one of the finest historical novels. Sagas, myths and historical facts are woven together in a fascinating plot. Brigitte Riebe conjures up the ancient world of the Great Goddess who at that time was mightier than all the male gods in the Greek Olympia. It was the world of matriarchy which came to a close with the invasions of tribes from the mainland.“ Brigitte “The historian Brigitte Riebe, who has studied early cultures that were dominated by women, relates the saga from the point of view of the matriarchal Cretan culture. The result is a captivating historical novel about love, politics and the demise of a culture.“ Gala Author Brigitte Riebe holds a doctorate in History and spent many years working as a publisher’s editor. Her most successful works to date are her historical novels Palast der blauen Delphine, Straße der Sterne and Die sieben Monde des Jakobus. Her most recent novel through Diana is Die Sünderin von Siena.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical

Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Brigitte Riebe is a German author of crime and feminist fiction. She writes thrillers under the pseudonym Lara Stern and lives with her husband in Munich.

After high school Brigitte Riebe studied at the University of Munich. She received a PhD based on a thesis on the development of the bourgeois woman paradigm at the turn of 18 to 19 Century. She then worked as a museum educator and later as an editor for several German publishers. In 1991 she gave up her job as a senior editor at Bertelsmann to become a writer. Since then, she has written many books books in various genres.

In 1992, Riebe published her first book, the crime novel Nix Dolci, which introduced the lawyer Sina Teufel, who became regular figure in her later works. One of the Sina Teufel-based novels was released as a movie: 'Inzest - Ein Fall für Sina Teufel (Incest - A Case for Sina Teufel) in 1996.

In addition to her detective novels Brigitte Riebe has also published several novels about modern society.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 raised to 4. Author's retelling of both the Ariadne/Theseus/Labyrinth/Minotaur myth together with Daedalus/Icarus myth set against the background of ca. 1500 BC Crete. Very enthralling narrative and fascinating how the author interwove the two myths. The Minotaur here is a young man named Asterios who has the gift of Second Sight. The religion on the island is that of the Great Mother, the female principle of fertility. She has priestesses, but Asterios is made the first male priest, first undergoing an initiation into consecration involving bull leaping, something called the Crane Dance, then navigating the Labyrinth, the last symbolizing one's passing from death to life. He becomes involved with the royal family at the "Palace of the Blue Dolphins", so-named after a fresco there, which has since been found by archaeologists. Asterios and a princess, Ariadne, fall in love. Then arrives from Athens hostages along with the son of that king, Theseus, who I found to be most unpleasant: impulsive, selfish, stubborn. Then Theseus seduces Ariadne; he doesn't return her tender feeling toward him. Asterios has predicted a volcanic eruption, which will destroy the island if people don't escape but he is not believed. Asterios will live in the Labyrinth, wearing a bull mask, as protector of the goddess. Theseus, with Ariadne's help--the thread, which Daedalus creates for her--enters and wounds Asterios nearly to death, stealing the bull mask. Daedalus and son attempt to fly in a contraption they have built--a balloon? Daedalus leaves the island, although his son is killed. Theseus, Ariadne and another princess, along with the hostages flee towards Athens but Ariadne is abandoned on Naxos. The volcano does erupt, and the Palace of the Blue Dolphins with all inhabitants is destroyed.

This novel kept me riveted all through. I did know the basic myths but I was struck by the originality of the author and how she connected them, along with their outcomes. It took awhile for the story to build and sometimes was slow but the last few chapters astounded me. With the volcanic eruption, I kept thinking that the island the author meant was the present-day Santorini and she confirmed this in her Epilogue. I thought also the story was a fictional depiction of matriarchy being replaced by patriarchy.

Highly recommended.

[R Hazman]

http://www.idefix.com/kitap/mavi-yunu...

http://www.kitapyurdu.com/kitap/defau...