Sylvia Weber and The Wolves' Keeper Legend

Today's guest blogger is Sylvia Weber, author of The Wolves' Keeper Legend.

".... From the beginning of time, it seemed that rivalry between man and wolf was at the root of man's dislike for the animal, discovered only too well by Sealgair. Was his fate forever to be condemned to isolation, to see terror and hate in the eyes of the once he once loved? All he could see in his mind was the last pictures of Awena's beloved face, which he carried in his heart for all his life.

Was the only way out to discover the special secret held by the papyrus-pearls in the stone pot - what secrets could this hold? And which stone pot could keep that precious secret when there were so many of them?

Seanns' quest to find the pearls and uncover the secret ended with tragic consequences, resulting in him not only discovering the truth of his birth and who his real mother and father were, but the realisation that his father lived among the wolves..."

I've asked Sylvia to give us a lit bit of Awena's story. Here's what she has to say:

Awena was a beautiful girl who arrived to Caladh. She and Sealgair fell in love and lived a happy time together, until one day, in the Fire Festival, Fiosaiche fell in love with her too. From there on, Sealgair and Fiosaiche had a hard time, each one of them trying to be the prince of her heart. She chose Sealgair, but Fiosaiche was never happy with her decision. So, he made a pact with the evil powers to get Awena's heart. But there is no such power that can defeat true love... Fiosaiche was downhearted and spiteful, and decided that, if he could't have her, no-one else could. So, he casted a spell over Sealgair and Awena that would keep them apart forever. So, how can this terrible destiny be changed? By then, Awena was already pregnant...

"This book was written when I was twelve years old (1980), which makes it, even for me, something rare. It’s usual to see books about teenagers, but they normally are written by adults. During my career as a teacher, I realised that few adults can see the world in the way a child does – I can name Jostein Gaarder, Jorge Amado and, of course, Saint-Exupery. Generations go by, and the teenagers love them. In the time I wrote it, there were no Golden Compass, no Narnia and no Harry Potter. Though the themes might seem similar to these works, my book is different and whoever reads it to the end understands it very clearly. It’s a unique and very pure vision, not even influenced by television and Internet. I translated it myself from Portuguese to English and gave it the final features, but the original manuscript is a hundred per cent in it, word by word.

My book is a dream, created by a dreamer’s mind, founded on Celtic tales. It talks about ideals that may seem so old-fashioned nowadays to many people, but that in my vision should be eternal targets to Humanity – Freedom, Love, Peace, Justice, Life. It’s a world of Children, but I think that one of the greatest abilities a grown-up can have is to see the world by the eyes of a child. The true hero is “Seanns”, a thirteen-year-old boy who seeks fulfilment and enlightenment in his life. This boy strives for truth and has a long way to go in a world inhabited by fairies, griffins and dragons. His companions are an old savant man and an older boy who guides him through the Mine of Dreams, where pearl-books are kept as the most precious treasures.

Though the wolf, traditionally, is seen as a terrible creature, associated to everything that is evil, my book tries to demystify this idea, presenting him as in “My friend, the wolf”, a traditional children’s poetry of my country whose author is unfortunately unknown.

Sylvia Weber was born in a small town in the heart of Portugal. She grew up on a farm, along the shores of the river Tejo, in an environment in which the traditions, and the respect for Nature exerted a very strong influence in what concerns the development of personality. At the age of twelve, she moved with her parents to Lisbon, in the suburban Amadora. The cultural confrontation with the cosmopolitan life was very deep, and it was definitively what made a writer out of Sylvia. the teenage years, Sylvia discovered the pleasure and the freedom of writing and she spent her every moment writing.

After a short marriage that gave birth to a son, she remarried in 2002 and added twin girls to her family. In September of 2007, she left to England with her husband, taking only a van loaded with essential goods (music, photos, books and clothing), a handbag of documents and a heart full of hope.

Visit her website at www.wolveskeeperlegend.com.