Goddess Fish Promotions Presents
Twin Stars
by Charlotte Clutterbuck
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Volume 1 of The Gannet Quartet
The Gannet Quartet is set in Scotland in the Middle Stone-Age. The four volumes follow the lives of Bhòid and his twin sister Sulaire, young thrall members of the Beaver Clan, who survive a harsh environment and separation from each other to become the first settlers of Eilean — the Island of Bute, or Eilean Bhòid in Gaelic.
5 out of 5
This was an amazing, captivating, and emotional adventure, following twins, born as essentially slaves, but destined for so much more. Sulaire is wise beyond her years, and possesses a special gift. Bhòid is brave and headstrong, which can sometimes get him into trouble. I know this is geared for middle graders, but I found myself swept up in the story. Clutterbuck does an amazing job of painting a vivid picture for the reader, and you’ll feel like you’re right alongside the twins as they navigate life. The characters have so much depth, it’s easy to forget they’re fictional, and not real people, even though the world they live in is so far removed from our own. I will definitely be reading the rest of the books in the series, simply because I need to know what happens next!
Sulaire waited on the edge of the village meeting-place, shivering in the early spring morning. At last, she thought, the Day of Balance when night and day are evenly matched and we are equal too—thrall and Hunter-caste equal as we train as Cubs of the Beaver Clan. And yet her heart hammered in her chest. Is it true? she asked herself. Is it true we are equal?
Her stomach felt tight and empty. Neither she nor Bhòid had been able to eat—even the honey-cake their mother had made for this special morning had stuck in their throats, dry and crumbling.
Bhòid jiggled beside her, scuffing the dirt with his bare feet. He looked terribly young, younger than his nine summers, his dark hair ragged where their mother had cropped it to get rid of the tangles. His eyes darted around the village, looking for Athru, the Headman’s son, tension in every muscle of his body.
The two girls who ran up to join them—Medjom, a thrall, and Lufar, a Hunter’s daughter—were younger than Sulaire. She felt relieved when Lufar gave her a friendly grin and Medjom shyly took her hand and stood shifting on her bare feet as if she, too, was afraid. They’d be friends, Sulaire thought. At least, for the three years of Cubs training, they might be friends, whatever came later.
As Kolnos, the old Trainer who’d lost one eye in a wolf hunt, came across the meeting-place, his rawhide whip in his hand, he counted the four of them, and shook his head.
‘Athru’s mother is still doing his hair,’ Lufar murmured to Sulaire, giggling. ‘I did my own.’ Sulaire looked down at her with a smile. Lufar’s tunic was new, a pattern stitched at the neck, but her hair was simply combed and tied back with a thong.
When Athru joined the rest of the Cubs, he nodded casually to Kolnos and stood apart from the others in his fine clothes—a new doe-skin tunic, a jerkin trimmed with marten fur, otter-hide shoes laced at his ankles, his long black hair combed and plaited at the temples like a Hunter’s.
And Sulaire realised the truth: Athru will not think that he and Bhòid are equals. There are only two boys and Athru will be Headman one day. He will think he is better than Bhòid. They will be rivals, not friends.
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Since I was a very young child, I have loved words and figuring out how to put them together—’Grammar is the ground of all’, as one of my favourite authors, William Langland, puts it.
In my adult life, I’ve published a wide range of stories, poems, essays, film-scripts, journal articles and literary criticism. I’m now working on The Gannet Quartet, a series of novels set in stone-age Scotland.
Living on an estuary on the Central Coast of New South Wales with my wife, I spend a lot of time birdwatching, tending my vegetable garden, gazing at stars through my telescope, or taking our grandchildren kayaking.
I’ve edited books and PhD theses; taught Creative, Academic and Business Writing; and spent years studying and teaching English Literature. Career highlights include: working at Warawara, The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Unit at Macquarie University; teaching high school English at Abbotsleigh; advising PhD Students in the Business School at UNSW@ADFA; and lecturing on literature and ethics in the Clemente program at the Australian Catholic University.
I’ve also had a lot of fun leading many workshops in grammar and creative writing.
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