Echoes Over Water - Stephen Cline

Echoes Over Water is a novel tracing two sailing journeys across the Atlantic Ocean, one modern, one ancient. The story is patterned on Celtic myths of legendary lands of bliss in the western seas (as in Arthur's Avalon) and "first contact" between European and New World cultures. In alternating sections, the book traces the adventures of two men. One, Alan Griffin, is a contemporary American fleeing modern angst and divorce, helping deliver a yacht to Britain. The other, Grifin, is fleeing the fall of Arthurian Britain to the Saxons, and following the sailing directions of Saint Brendan the Navigator (and others) toward fabled lands to the west. These two, along with companions, island-hop across the northern Atlantic in opposite directions, encountering surprising adventures and insights. In their exploits, we see reflections of the chaos of post Arthurian (Celtic) England, the cultural remnants of American westward expansion, early tales of the Irish seafaring monks, modern and ancient volcanic activity off the coast of Iceland, the meeting of Europeans with the Beothics of Newfoundland, and contemporary sailing adventure. Both men are seekers and musicians, who share some similarities of temperament, and perhaps a slim, other, enigmatic something. There are significant women in their lives, women they leave, women they meet, women who often seem to understand that big picture just a shade better than these two. They too become part of the leaving from and journeying to that correspond to the larger historical, spiritual, and romantic goals of the questing voyage. The juxtaposition of the time periods gives a glimpse into similarities in human nature across time, in Barbara Tuchman's phrase, "A Distant Mirror." This analysis aside, it is a plot and character driven story.