Chez Maximka: A Shape on the Air (Dr DuLac series Book 1) by Julia Ibbotson

Monday 14 February 2022

A Shape on the Air (Dr DuLac series Book 1) by Julia Ibbotson

"She wasn't afraid of the echo that crossed her mind but more startled, and she held her berath a moment before her brain caught up to the reality of her home".

"And you were especially vulnerable to that call because you were distressed and in a - forgive me - a highly emotional state. At those times we seem to be more in touch with the shapes on the air."

"Shapes on the air?"

"That's what I call them. The imprints, if you like, that I believe are all around is from those who have gone before, from events that have been significant, but that we aren't normally receptive to".

A Shape on the Air by Julia Ibbotson is an evocative timeslip fantasy romance. This is the first book in the Dr DuLac series, set in 499AD and the present time.

Dr Viv DuLac, a medievalist and university lecturer, is planning a romantic evening with her partner Pete who is supposed to arrive that day after a trip. She cooks his favourite meal, has the candles ready on the table, and the intimate music in the background. Only the evening doesn't go as planned.

Pete returns home to announce that he is leaving Viv for her best friend Gwyn. Not only he drops this bombshell, the nasty scoundrel also announces that he needs money and insists on the sale of their flat. The problem is he hardly contributed to the mortgage, while she used her inheritance to pay for it, supporting her partner to set up his business.

Viv is shattered, and tries to drown her sorrows in Merlot. Drunk and feeling sorry for herself, she ventures outside for a nightime walk towards the mere. The village is very old, built on the site of the Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon remains. She watches the ripples in the dark water, and feels an invisible hand pushing her in the murky mere.

When Viv becomes conscious, a stranger carries her out of the mere. There are people around, and they are all dressed in strange clothes. Viv feels confused and bewildered. Is this some kind of enactment?

"What she saw would place her in the so-called Dark Ages, between the end of the Roman Empire and the main Anglo-Saxon invasion. Early middle ages: what, maybe 450 to 500AD. The time people dismissed as uninteresting, unrefined, uncultured, even barbaric".

In 499AD Lady Vivianne is facing problems of her own. Several years earlier her parents perished in the fire. Lady Vivianne, being high-born and fatherless, is given to her protector, Sir Pelleas, as his bride, against her will. Her maid Guin tells her she has no choice but to marry the detestable Pelleas, yet everything inside her protests. "He is not a noble warrior, he is not worthy to lead this settlement. He is neither a royal Brythen, like my family, nor from Roman descent, like Sir Roland's. He is disgusting and boorish. He is a foul brute and he is a Saxon!".

Lady Vivianne is a Christian, who is hiding her faith from Sir Pelleas and his Saxon cronies. She hopes to escape the inevitable marriage and bring her community back to the Christian ways her parents upheld.

A thousand and a half years apart, two namesakes are inexplicably connected. The stress of the betrayal and the anxiety of the imminent loss of her flat, create an emotional trigger which allows the present day Viv to timeslip into the past. Could the realistic nature of her vivid dreams be explained by the current stress? Then how is it possible that she finds herself clutching the antique objects, which she brings back from her "dreams"?

Dr DuLac and Lady Vivianne's lives are inter-connected, and it looks like the finds in the present can unlock the mysteries of the past.

Lady Vivianne has supporters in her own time, her little maid Tilly, and Lord Roland, a warrior, who promised her parents to watch over and protect her.

In the present day, the local vicar Rory Netherbridge shares Viv's interest in the early medieval history. With his help and support from her friends, Viv is trying to figure out if there is a possible timeslip. "I feel her feelings, I think her thoughts, I am her. It really was like I slipped into her time, her life... I think I kind of time-slipped. No, I'm certain of it. And I brought back real items with me. I know it's madness. And I'm too logical a thinker for this..."

Viv must face her own tragic past, and see if her parents' heritage might hold the clues to her "visions". Could there be a hint of a solution to the mystery of the key she has unwittingly brought with her from the past? Can Viv help her namesake without changing the progression of the historical events?

"Lady Vivianne and her world seemed like a part of her working life, her research, her study, and something she could hold on to, something familiar in a sense, however weird it all was".

A Shape on the Air is an intriguing and beguiling beginning of the series. The explanation of the timeslip sounds plausible and is handled cleverly.

A diverting novel for fans of Barbara Erskine and Christina Courtenay.

I enjoyed reading Author's notes on the history and legends behind the story. The notion of time-slip and the concept of "worm-holes" and the Einstein-Bridge theory of portals into other dimensions of time and space is truly fascinating. It might explain the perceptions of the past and those experiences where "the spirits of history are embedded in the fabric of old houses and ancient geology". Hence the possible logical explanation of déjà vu.

Talking of déjà vu, one of my most memorable experiences was when I visited the palace of Urbino over 27 years ago. I haven't even been in Italy before then, but when I walked through the Ducal Palace, I just knew I have seen it all before. The views from the windows looked familiar as well. Maybe I was the girl sweeping the floors, or serving the food, all those centuries ago.

A Shape on the Air is a tense page-turner, loaded with historical detail. Perfect for a dark winter evening. It dives into England of the Dark Ages with the undulation of Dame du Lac emerging from the mere, and grips our attention with the energy of the Arthurian dragon's wings.

“In the best Barbara Erskine tradition …I would highly recommend this novel” -Historical Novel Society

“Amazing …a really great book …I just couldn’t put it down” -Hazel Morgan

“Well-rounded characters and a wealth of historical research make this a real page-turner” -Amazon review

“Enthralling” -Amazon review

“Julia does an incredible job of setting up the idea of time-shift so that it’s believable and makes sense” - Amazon review

“Viv/Lady Vivianne … lovely identifiable heroine in both time periods….I love her strength and vulnerability. And Rory/Roland is simply gorgeous!” – Melissa Morgan

“gripping … a very real sense of threat and danger, an enthralling mystery … a wholly convincing romance, across both timelines” - Anne Williams

Purchase Link - http://my.Book.to/ASOTA

This post is part of the blog tour for Dr DuLac series.

Many thanks to Julia Ibbotson and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!

Author Bio –

Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She sees her author brand as a historical fiction writer of romantic mysteries that are evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners.

Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip/dual-time mysteries. Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language/ literature/ history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics.

After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher.

Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books (Endeavour) for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s.

She has published five other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone. Her work in progress is the first of a new series of Anglo-Saxon mysteries (Daughter of Mercia) where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries.

Her books will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay.

Her readers say: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful story-telling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.