An Archaeological Mystery

Enid McConnell's The Conjurors' Trilogy--an Archaeological Mystery is both highly entertaining and remarkably informative. I was especially interested in reading it as soon as it became available, having met Enid when she was still toying with all the concepts that eventually went into the creation of this novel about the adventures of two sisters on a quest for intellectual enlightenment and spiritual self-discovery.

A few years back, a mutual friend suggested that she visit me here on my remote mountaintop in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. At the time, Enid was retracing The Trail of Tears and visiting other significant sites related to the history of the Cherokee Nation. Meeting her was like becoming reacquainted with an old friend. And I was immediately impressed with her vast knowledge of Native American history and the thesis she wrote to get her degree in the subject. More fascinating, however, were the universal myths and legends that she spoke about with such intense enthusiasm-all of which had ties to the earliest settlers on this continent.

During that first visit, we explored the banks of the creek that runs at the base of my property and went to Fairy Stone Park, searching for fairy stones. The local legend surrounding the cross-shaped stones tells of how the fairies living in the region cried upon hearing about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and their tears crystallized to form the uniquely shaped stones. According to Enid though, the stones were even older than the Christ and were valued by conjurors for their magical power to render the bearer invisible.

Enid was so enthralled by my surroundings with its natural beauty and spiritual wealth that she came back to visit me on two more occasions and named my abode the Story Creek Writers' Retreat. Though I occasionally mentor writers, it was apparent from the very begining that advice on writing or establishing a plot was not what she needed. Therefore, as a courtesy to a fellow writer, I listened for hours upon hours as she wove tales from the past and spoke of many beguiling experiences she'd had, which I later learned are the heart and lifeblood of her novel.

Two sisters, the central characters in The Conjurors' Trilogy, are attending graduate school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, which is where the Cherokees relocated at the end of the Trail of Tears. At the beginning of the story they find themselves, along with many of the local residents, intrigued and perplexed by the death of a scholar who was obsessed with making a digital recreation of the Cherokee syllabary-created by Sequoyah to translate their language into written text.

Many elders think the writings contain secret formulas and curses not meant for the outside world. Furthermore, they believe that anyone who dared to translate it would be doomed. Complicating matters, the scholar's missing computer hard drive leads many to assume that covert operatives working for the United States government stole it to help win the war in the Middle East and gain world domination.

Following a series of related mystifying occurrences, the sisters join forces with a renowned archeologist. Together, they travel to the ruins of a pyramid being excavated in Guatemala. What they discover there only compounds their escalating fears that the ancient past and the turbulent present are on a collision course of earth-shattering consequences. Back in the United States, McConnell describes the final climatic showdown in such graphic yet poetic language that it is easy to see, to hear and become emotionally stirred by every moment of action as the forces of good and evil wage battle for supremacy--with the fate of the world at stake.

The Conjurors' Trilogy weaves elements of fantasy in the beloved style of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Combine that with earthly rituals and sacred beliefs--along with the works of Carlos Castenada--and you will have a general idea of what Enid McConnell has accomplished after years of meticulous study filtered through a most vivid imagination.

The book is available from Multicultural Educational Publishing: http://mcepub.com.