The Light-Bearer's Daughter

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

Book 3 of The Chronicles of Faerie has a dual setting: contemporary
Dublin, and a magical ancestral world. Eleven-year-old Dana, a tomboy
who loves football, is horrified to learn that her Canadian father, a
musician, plans to return to Toronto to take up a promising new
position. How can she leave her friends and her home? And how will she
ever be able to find her mother who disappeared from Dublin when Dana
was three? Ireland is the only world she has ever known.

Dana is friendly with the Dublin eco-warriors who live in treehouses to
protest the ongoing loss of fields and woods to the construction of
housing estates and motorways. Through their leader’s treehouse, Dana
enters a magical world where she meets a young stranger who seeks her
help and promises in exchange to give Dana her “heart’s desire.”
For Dana, this would be finding her mother.

The contrasts between Dana’s worlds of modern Ireland and the
mythical kingdom of Faerie are beautifully shaped. Dana’s experience
leads her to accept her destiny and her new destination—Canada. A rich
background of Irish legend and wild scenery supports this strong
adventure tale with a thoroughly modern young heroine who bridges worlds
and generations. Highly recommended.