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- ISMENE (The
Journey Back)
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| ISMENE
(The Journey Back) |
| Coming
in 2006 Christine's
novel ISMENE (The
Journey Back) ISBN#
1-4137-9804-7 will
be published. This
story re-works the
Greek myths surrounding
Ismene, youngest daughter
of Oedipus, who goes
on her own adventure
after the demise of
her family. Starting
out as a young woman
in fear of her life,
Ismene hides from
her vengeful uncle
in the Land of Death
and in the process
upsets the order of
things by falling
in love with Hades,
the God of Death.
How she makes her
way through the many
dangers she faces
into the woman who
restores the name
of her family is the
subject of this book. |
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From
the back cover:
Ismene is the last
survivor of her family,
cursed by the gods
and man. She is fleeing
from her tyrannical
uncle, Creon, taking
shelter with Tieresias,
the blind prophet
who lives in the hills
above the city-state
of Thebes. Tieresias
sends her to hide
in the one place Creon
cannot follow—the
Kingdom of Death.
Once there, Ismene
is reunited with her
father, Oedipus, as
well as her mother
and siblings. Sheltered
by Hades, King of
Death, she falls in
love with this dark
god. By the time she
is recalled to the
earth by Tieresias,
she has accepted the
fact that her destiny
is unique and will
redeem the honor of
her family.
Christine
is an accomplished
playwright whose work
has been published
and performed throughout
the United States
and abroad. She has
had careers as an
actress, director,
and educator. While
Ismene is her debut
novel, she has been
seen in print as a
journalist, essayist,
poet, and short fiction
writer. She lives
in Pennsylvania with
her husband, Richard.
REVIEW: In
this lyrically written
and sensual first
novel set amid the
myths of the ancient
Greeks, Ismene, a
mortal girl, flees
to the underworld
to save her life from
her father’s
enemies, and there
falls in love with
Hades, the god of
death. At the bidding
of her friend Tierasias,
an old blind seer
who lives in an eyrie
away from men, she
returns unwillingly
to earth where she
must not only flee
her persecutors for
herself but to protect
the unborn child within
her. The several other
Greek gods Ismene
encounters are wise,
wry and sometimes
lonely; the mortals
who cross her path
stumble through love
and war. Through all
this, the girl, daughter
of the tragic Oedipus,
must redeem her family
from an eternal curse
and find her lover
in her dreams when
life and death have
separated them. -Stephanie
Cowell American Book
Award winner Author
of Nicholas Cooke
and Marrying Mozart
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