Arctic Circle

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Felicity Edwards

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This book although a stand alone is also a sequel to Full Circle, in which Ivan, in his shamanic mode, met the ancient shaman Guta of the Denisovans in their cave in the Altai Mountains of SW Siberia about 36,000 years ago.

Set 23,000 years ago in this book, Ivan, in a shamanic trance, uncovers the resilience of another group of Denisovans. They journey from the Burda, their biannual meeting grounds and go along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, northward until they discover a new cave. When their old shaman dies, his son, Gai, becomes the next shaman as foretold many years earlier by the chief shaman at the Burda meeting.

He leads a young group east, where they reach the Bering land bridge. As the sea encroaches, they flee to the mountains of the Yukon. Here, they and their subsequent generations endure a snap ice age, the Younger Dryas, which traps them in this refuge, along with all the mega flora and fauna, for 10,000 years.

Ivan, now a qualified archaeologist, follows their path and, with his wife Dora, moves from Siberia to the Yukon, where he works as a lecturer and researcher. They live in a magnificent house restored from a disused building into an eco-friendly dwelling. They are not alone, as his friends Mikhail and Zoya retire and become their neighbours. Sophia, the mother of his deceased mentor Sonja, was instrumental in designing the new building, which includes a granny flat where she lives close but independent.