Multi-Cultural Traces in TLS

While this book is not based in Ireland, the male protagonist’s roots are partly from Ireland, and you will find his father introducing a few memories of his own that were from this wonderful country at a very difficult time. The Irish were a big part of America, especially during the 19th century, and I believe it is a piece of history we need to remember.

I found it important to visit Ireland personally, for despite all the library and internet research I had done to educate myself, the truest way to learn about a country is by visiting it. This was exactly what I had done with Norway, and I believe it greatly helped me flesh out all the Norwegian characters you will find in this series. As an Austrian-Greek, who was brought up in Greece, can you imagine me writing American characters with southern accents and phrases if I hadn’t lived in the south for a decade to study them?

So, in Ireland, I studied and took notes of the landscape, the tradition, the accents, language, weather, food, cliffsides, shores, forestry, every little rock I found, and of course, all the ancient spiritual locations and their history. As I did in Norway, whose landscape greatly influenced several locations in the books.

Now, you will find characters that speak Irish, and since there is a lot of misinformation online, I visited Gaeltacht villages such as Daingean Uí Chúis where Irish is the first language spoken — and I was on the hunt for someone willing to proofread the Irish parts in the book I developed myself in self-teaching efforts. The hunt took me to desolated local pubs, where I met a few older gentlemen, pleasantly inebriated with a smooth-topped Guinness pint before them, who spoke a few broken words in Irish, but suggested to further my quest to one single man in all County Kerry who was a master. Sadly, the phone number I had on a sliver of paper in my hopeful grasp, never did go through.

So the quest continued on, in a classic and old-timey fashion, with no online guidance; which made the experience even more exciting, albeit challenging. I had the sense to land in a library in An Daingean, where I explained this task and received directions to a lovely old church nearby.

And there, I met professor Caitríona who came to my rescue. She was the kindest and most helpful, elegant lady who speaks fluent Irish — and teaches it with a passion. There was no hesitation from her side in assisting me, which I found incredible, fitting to the Irish people’s kindness I was met with.

It was so beautiful to hear this mystic, ancient language being spoken by her, let alone for her to greet me in this manner. And now, I owe all the corrections, the knowledge, and the fluency of the phrases I’ve included in this book to her, and she only fueled my desire to learn further Irish.

But, I stumbled also upon Patchy, who is someone who grew up speaking Irish and is the most fervent teacher of it. Old-school, with a great well of knowledge that will render you speechless. He has been explaining the roots of each Irish name, each word, each song or history — whether you want it explained, or not. I really appreciate that about him, and he has been a phenomenal help for me, in sharing information you cannot find otherwise.

Now you may ask, why include a language that a reader won’t understand? Well, it’s simple. What we don’t understand is absolutely beautiful and only adds to the mystery of someone. When you’re in the protagonist’s mind and hear someone speak to you in a language you don’t understand, I strongly believe it immerses you even further into the story. Language is the most innocent landmark of our identity. And on that note, I would like to thank my Irish experts, Caitríona and Patchy, my Norwegian Viking all the way from Senja, Jonny Mikalsen, my Norwegian best friend, Sunniva, my Spanish amigo, Kevin Terry, and my longtime Parisian friend, Nathalie Bazenet, for all their help in making this book possible; and instead of letting a language barrier divide us, allowing it to bring us closer.