Metaphysics of Sound: In Search of the Name of God, or a Brief History of the World beyond the Usual by Nataša Pantović

Join Natasa Pantovic, Maltese and Serbian researcher of ancient world's, on a mind-boggling tour of history and sounds - from the Ancient Sumerian Priestess Sin Liturgy right up to the development of Ancient Greek and Cyrillic alphabet.

This new novel contains a dialogue between two European cultures, Roman and Greek from an Ancient Slavic perspective, an intimate encounter of Balkan, its history and culture, a glimpse into the evolution of Ancient Egyptian's, Ancient Maltese, Ancient Greek - Ionic and Slavic sounds. A Brief History of the world Beyond the Usual (the subtitle of the book) contains the historical overview of the development of people, sounds and symbols as frequencies. In the story, Ivana Seravac was about to turn 30 when she found herself on a train journey to a Montenegro's monastery Ostrog. Ivana's travel companion, we are told, is David Archer who happens to be in Montenegro on a research trip related to his Phd work in London. "In search of the Name of God" we follow Natasa's life-long research into the oldest recorded history of Europe, the 21 symbols of Ancient Serbian Vinča's pottery, the 1st ever published Sumerian Liturgy for the Moon Goddess SiN by a Sumerian Priestess, Ancient Greek Herodotus and his encounter of Slavs, the Orphic Rituals with its Text of Derveni Papyrus from Macedonia, and the spread of the Dio-Nysus cult in the European Balkan.

https://books.google.com.mt/books?id=zEkxzgEACAAJ Read an Excerpt of the book.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:

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Tree of Life | a Journey into the Field of Dreams AoL #9, set in Findhorn, UK

A metaphysical inspirational novel by Nataša Pantović set in Findhorn, the UK, as a Journey into the Field of Dreams. The Tree of Life in various religious interpretations, within myths, and as a mystical concept represents the inter-connection of all life on our beautiful planet. This true adoption story ventures into the Uk, Serbia, Africa, Ethiopia, Kenia, Malta.

Tree of Life

Here are some Local Amazon Links I could find! Enjoy!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06X1944WJ https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06X1944WJ

https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B06X1944WJ

https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B06X1944WJ amazon.com.mx/gp/product/B06X1944WJ

amazon.de/gp/product/B06X1944WJ

amazon.it/gp/product/B06X1944WJ

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amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B06X1944WJ

amazon.fr/gp/product/B06X1944WJ

"A bridge builder between East & West, following ancient archaeological findings, Nataša often dives into historic settings more than 2,000 years back in time" Sunday Times. #bookworm #bookreview #readers #bookseries #historicalfiction #bookish #books @Kindle #romance #love #contemporary #kindlebooks #novel #fiction #novella #GreatReads #BookSpotlightShowcase #greatbooks #bookoholic #booksbooksbooks #writing #mustread

AMA'S 5 STAR REVIEW IN SUNDAY TIMES

"A bridge builder between East and West, following ancient archaeological findings, she often dives into historic settings more than 2,000 years back in time.

In her novel the 52-year-old author makes a bold swerve into less-travelled territory. She chooses for her protagonists Ama, an African priestess, living in China’s Macao in the 17th century; Ruben, a Portuguese Jesuit priest; and Fr Benedict, an Orthodox Christian.

The book explores the rapidly-growing Macao, its changing sights, sounds and smells from different perspectives, from that of a bat to a goddess to a spirit. Its miracle and its enigma are within the worlds of inner alchemy of the Age of Enlightenment.”

Check this fascinating tale of History of Ancient China at the Age of Enlightenment exploring the very essence of European vs Chinese Development of Thought #books #readers #readerlife #reading #fiction #historicalfiction #natasapantovic https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X6GQHT

#bookworm #bookreview #readers #bookseries #bookish #books Amazon Kindle #kindlebooks #GreatReads #BookSpotlightShowcase #greatbooks #bookoholic #booksbooksbooks #writing #mustread #NatasaPantovic

A-Ma Amazon Links

https://www.amazon.com/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.co.uk https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.ca https://www.amazon.ca/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.com.au https://www.amazon.com.au/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.in https://www.amazon.in/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.com.mx https://www.amazon.com.mx/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.de https://www.amazon.de/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.it https://www.amazon.it/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.es https://www.amazon.es/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.com.br https://www.amazon.com.br/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.nl https://www.amazon.nl/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.co.jp https://www.amazon.co.jp/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

amazon.fr https://www.amazon.fr/Ma-Alchemy-Natasa-Pantovic-ebook/dp/B06X6GQHTZ

"The Farm at the Edge of the World" is the second Sarah Vaughan novel I've had the pleasure of reading. It is a generational story spanning a little more than 70 years - from the earliest days of the Second World War to the summer of 2015 - that faithfully evokes the essence and spirit of an era fast receding into history, as well as a tangible look and feel of contemporary Cornwall.

The novel begins with the evacuation of a brother and sister - Will, 13 and his younger sister, Alice, 9 - from London to Cornwall in Southwest England shortly after Britain had declared war on Germany in September 1939. Many families with young children in London, fearful of being bombed by the Luftwaffe, entered into a government plan which relocated children from the urban areas of the country judged likely to be subjected to bombing to the countryside. Children were considered to be in places of greater safety in the countryside. So it was that Will and Alice Cooke were put in the care of the Retallick family, who owned and lived on a granite farm (Skylark) near the Cornish cliffs.

As I said, this novel is a story that spans the generations. And thus, the reader is provided in alternating chapters, views of the life Will and Alice had with the Retallicks at Skylark through most of the war to Skylark some 7 decades later. In the latter period (i.e. the summer of 2014), Maggie - who had befriended Will and struck up what began as a close friendship with him -- is nearing her 90th birthday. Her granddaughter Lucy, a nurse by training, has left London, where she lived with her husband Matt, to return to Cornwall to help her family from losing Skylark. She had lived many years in London, but in light of her father's death, feels the need to reconnect with her family. The author skillfully brings to life the struggles and divisions within the family in light of Skylark's troubles. This is wonderfully contrasted with life there during the war, which brought Will and Maggie Retallick closer together as both neared adulthood-- before Fate cruelly separated them.

The more I read this novel, the more the story grew within my imagination. There is something about Cornwall that is both evocative and mesmerized, situated as it is hard by the Atlantic Ocean. (Ever since I read the Poldark novels over 10 years ago, I have become utterly enchanted with Cornwall. I hope someday to visit there.) Vaughan has a knack for creating characters with whom the reader can relate to because they become real people. I love the way she writes.

"THE FARM AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD" is a novel the reader will find him/herself reflecting upon long after he/she has read it, for it is very well told and has elements of love, loss, nostalgia, hope, and rediscovery.

From reading “THE SHADOW KING”, I developed an ambivalence about it that is hard to explain. Nevertheless, I will try to do so. The novel is set in Ethiopia during 2 critical periods in its history. It begins in 1974 as the country totters on the brink of revolution amid student protests and the scourge of drought in much of the countryside.

One of the main characters in “THE SHADOW KING” is Hirut, a quiet yet strong and resolute woman, who, in her youth had led a humble existence as a servant in the home of a prominent community leader (Kidane). She is sitting in a railway station in Addis Ababa, awaiting the arrival of a Italian photographer (Ettore Navarra), who decades earlier, had played a somewhat adversarial role against Hirut in particular – and against Ethiopia, in general.

The novel then shifts to 1935, where the reader experiences the younger Hirut and the dynamics of her relationships with Kidane and his wife Aster, a rather headstrong woman who feels neglected by her husband and looks upon Hirut as the unwelcome ‘third wheel’ in the marriage. Hirut has little freedom and when Kidane took away the vintage rifle with which her father had once taught her to shoot – for the use of one of the men in a militia unit he is forming because of the likelihood of an impending Italian invasion --- she harbors a deep resentment towards him.

With Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, the nature of the relationships among Kidane, Aster, and Hirut changes considerably. Both women come to assume more prominent roles as part of a insurgent resistance movement to Italian control. Kidane is both a strategist, as well as a battlefield commander with his coterie of junior resistance leaders to assist him in bringing more people into the resistance and in carrying out harassing raids against scattered Italian units so as to acquire additional arms with which to continue the struggle.

The crucial element in keeping the resistance alive is what comes to be known as “the shadow king”. This is a brainchild of Hirut when she discerns one day by chance that one of her comrades bears a striking resemblance to the nation’s emperor, Haile Selassie. A plan is then concocted by Kidane of dressing this man in some of the formal clothing of the emperor which someone in the resistance had managed to obtain earlier. This “shadow king” would accompany the resistance group wherever they travelled from their mountain hideout to show the people that the Emperor Haile Selassie – contrary to reports that he had left the country and was living in exile in Britain – was very much with them in their fight to free Ethiopia from Italian rule.

Ettore Navarra is a soldier in his early 20s assigned to Ethiopia, where he carries out various photographic assignments (he is already a skilled photographer) for his commander, a colonel known for the infamous work he had done in Libya in securing ‘native pacification’ there. It is in this role that Ettore encounters Hirut – along with Aster. I won't divulge how that comes about. But as often happens in war, destinies of various people can become interlocked in unexpected ways.

I appreciate this novel because I learned in some measure from it the impact the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-36 had on the Ethiopian people, as well as the harsh methods employed by the Italians to pacify and control the country during the 5 year occupation that followed. What I didn’t much like about the novel was the way the author would tell it. This was done with a thin interface between the narrator and the characters. I must admit I’m not a fan of the narrative voice in novels. I want to know the characters directly via their inner thoughts and outer actions. I don’t like feeling that I’m being shielded from them in a way by a narrator, whom by its very presence, puts itself up as a ‘god in the novel’. That’s why I’m giving “THE SHADOW KING” one less star than I would have given it otherwise, were its characters given the freedom to fully express themselves.