A modern engineer in medieval times
What might it be like for a modern engineer to find himself in pre-industrial times? Standing on a cliff top on the Galway coast, A G Rivett dreamed into this question. He put pen to paper as an idea began to form, then set it aside nigh on twenty years. When he returned to it at last, his question and the place where he first asked it had merged. He saw an island to the west of Scotland, and north of Ireland – though no one knows those place-names in the world he began to create. The Island is where present-day engineer, John Finlay, finds himself washed up after running away to sea. It’s the place where they call him the Seaborne.
Building a world
A modern engineer in a medieval setting? A G Rivett builds his imaginary world slowly and takes pains to make the natural world vivid. He wants readers to see and sense the mountains, the moors and the sea and evokes small details of the township of Caerpadraig that make it come alive. If, at first, readers do not know what the rondel is, or who the shareg might be, they share a little in John’s confusion, for he does not know these things either. John’s skill-set is useless on the Island. He has a whole language to learn. But the Islanders who pluck him from the sea are just as perplexed. Who is this man?
“It is notoriously difficult to create an internally consistent and convincing alternative universe – something I think Rivett has achieved magnificently.” Richard Danckwerts, Amazon reader review
BlueInk starred review – “Deeply and carefully imagined”
“The Seaborne is about a man pushed to his limits, forced to go deep into himself to rediscover what’s important in life. The book asks thought-provoking questions about what modern humans have given up in favor of always grasping the new.“
