Daughter of the Shining Isles (The Magdalen Trilogy, Vol. 1) (Hardcover)

by Elizabeth Cunningham (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
According to the publicity material accompanying her new book, novelist Cunningham (The Return of the Goddess) is descended from nine generations of Episcopal priests. She resisted the temptation to become a Christian priest herself, but proudly calls herself a priestess, and has written reams of feminist, neo-pagan fiction. In this novel, the first in a projected trilogy, Cunningham introduces us to Mary Magdalen, Celtic-style. Here, Mary, called Maeve, is born in the Land of Women in 4 B.C.E. As a young woman, she moves to Mona to study at a druidic university. There she meets EsusAaka JesusAwho is also studying there during his so-called lost years. In Maeve, Cunningham has blended the perky insouciance of Sabrina the teenage witch with the penetrating common sense of Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennett. She speaks in a refreshingly modern voiceA"Yes, I know. Girl hero is awkward, like woman doctor.... But I balk at the word heroine. A personal quirk." But awkward locutions creep into this historical fantasy ("It was the blood, my woman's blood!"), and much of the novel reads like a poor imitation of Ursula Le Guin. At times, Cunningham tries too hard to prove her bona fides; her references to the Talmud, for example, hardly blend in seamlessly. ("You'll find this very discussion in a volume called Taharoth, in the tractate Niddah, chapter 9, Mishnah 5.") The endearing protagonist almost makes plowing through the tendentious, turgid prose worthwhile. Almost, but not quite. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Cunningham outdoes herself. Always an imaginative writer, as The Return of the Goddess (1992) and The Wild Mother (1993) attest, Cunningham now mixes Celtic mythology with the emergent feminist tradition of the Magdalen to create a powerful, spiritually charged visionary novel. Red-haired Maeve was born on the legendary Isle of Women, where her weather-witching mothers (the plural is intentional) raise her to be utterly self-assured as well as almost overwhelmingly self-willed. But her confidence and skills are put to the test when, accepted as one of the first female candidates for initiation at Mona, she meets her soulmate and beloved, Esus (aka Jesus) of Nazareth, whose lengthy, invisible apprenticeship wasn't among the Essenes, as some would have it, but among the Druids, where he learned his destiny in a shamanic vision. In less-skilled hands, this wild combination of cultures and spiritual traditions might strain all suspension of disbelief, but Cunningham makes Maeve a force of nature that sweeps the reader along in her train. Indeed, Cunningham's artistry encourages the belief that, if there had been a lover fated for the fated savior, she certainly would have been this brilliant, soulful, sensual Celtic lass, Maeve. And this is just the first volume of a projected trilogy. Patricia Monaghan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Barrytown/Station Hill (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158177060X
• ISBN-13: 978-1581770605
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #608,918 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WARNING!, March 15, 2007

By	Laura K. Hutton "silverwolf" (Pasadena CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Magdalen Rising: The Beginning (The Maeve Chronicles) (Hardcover)

If there is one thing I cannot stand, it is being suckered into buying a book twice because it has been re-issued under another title. This book is a fun read and I'm really enjoying this series, but don't buy "Magdalen Rising" if you already own "Daughter of the Shining Isle". It's the same book.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and Transcendent, June 18, 2000

By	Ashling Kelly (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

I have long been a fan of Elizabeth Cunningham's work; I expected Daughter of the Shining Isles to be equally wonderful. I was stunned to discover just how rich and powerful this book is. Volume I of the Magdalen Trilogy, Daughter of the Shining Isles speaks with the heroine's voice. Not just any old heroine, Maeve is wild, magical and young, growing into her wisdom with all the mistakes and passion of questioning youth and growing womanhood. Maeve was born on the Isle of Women, Tir na mBan, on the same night that Esus of Nazareth was born across the world, both births heralded by glorious twin stars. Ever prone to following her heart and desires, Maeve learns all that her eight mothers can teach her, and eventually goes to the island of Mona, home to the illustrious Druid College. It is there that she comes face-to-face with Esus of Nazareth, whose life is intricately woven with Maeve's. Together they learn--academics, magic, and the power of love. And together they learn that neither faces a future that will flow easily. Both have destinies that we only think we can foresee. Daughter of the Shining Isles leads us through magic, intrigue, passion, power, grief and joy...and this is only volume I of the Magdalen Trilogy! There are secrets and surprises, love and pain, familiar names in new contexts, and people you will never forget. I loved this book, from the first sentence to the last. This is a work of historical fiction, and yet, one can't help but wonder...this book often feels as if the words are truly Maeve's, and the story feels as though it could be a truth to a history often speculated about but never really proven. It is as though Maeve chose Elizabeth Cunningham to tell her story, now, for all to finally hear and know. Cunningham writes with a richness, a lushness, rarely seen in modern authors. Her descriptions paint scenes as clearly as if we are there, watching, participating. She combines vivid characterization, earthy realism and luminous fantasy, humor and tragedy, to create a book that speaks to us with its own voice, with Maeve's own voice, in a story that must be told...must be heard.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bawdy, but entertaining, August 8, 2003

By	Lesa Bellevie "Lesa Bellevie" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the Magdalene.org review: "Daughter of the Shining Isles" is the first part of an ambitious trilogy by Elizabeth Cunningham. She takes us to the Celtic-speaking world of 9 C.E. where the main character, Maeve Rhaud, is born and raised by eight weather-warrior witches on the island of Tir na mBam. There, she has a startling vision of her cosmic twin, Esus, in a back alley of Jerusalem: he is relieving his bladder.

If this is a startling image for you, then you should avoid the book. Cunningham's Maeve Rhaud is a headstrong, earthy character with no qualms about speaking of bodily functions, and she does so with great frequency. They are, in fact, important plot points in the story. This was a great drawback for me when I first started the book, and it wasn't until I was halfway through it that I decided the story was entertaining enough to compensate for Cunningham's Celtic witches' apparent scatalogical fascination.

A majority of the story takes place at the legendary Druid college of Mona, where Maeve Rhaud undertakes bardic training. The author accounts for the "lost years" of Jesus (Esus) by placing him in the college with her. He has a difficult time believing that his cosmic twin is someone so "unclean," and they have frequent theological arguments about monotheism versus her polytheistic ways. Maeve is constantly in trouble with the faculty of the college, clashing with personalities and breaking taboos. It is in this setting that she falls in love with the 15 year old man from Jerusalem and pledges her life to him.

Cunningham's novel is narrated by Maeve, who uses modern metaphors to describe the events in her tale. In spite of this chronological inconsistency, the story is extremely entertaining and told with good humor. It moves along quickly, and the main characters are well developed. If you are familiar with biblical accounts of the life of Jesus, you will be amused by the references to how his legend was shaped by people after his death.

If you're able to laugh at bawdy humor and don't have an easily tweaked sense of the blasphemous, this book will leave you satisfied and waiting eagerly for the next novel in the series.