The writings of James Cowan informed my knowledge of Australian totemic spirituality. In particular his Mysteries of the Dream-time and Aboriginal Dreaming offered much inspiration for several of the ‘lessons’ that precede each chapter.
I am grateful to Writers Victoria for awarding me a Glenfern Fellowship in 2012, and to the Australian Society of Authors and the Copyright Agency for Sue Gough’s fortifying mentorship in 2010.
The Australia Council’s ArtStart grant provided funds for a much-needed space to work. I have been housed by Mary Delahunty’s delightful ‘Rosebank’ property near Lancefield and by ‘Duneira’ at Mount Macedon. Thanks to the S.R.Stoneman Foundation for allowing me to be Duneira’s first writer in residence.
Heartfelt thanks to my teachers at RMIT: Sally Rippin, Clare Renner, Olga Lorenzo and Toni Jordan. Your encouragement and knowledge were transformative.
To my fellow writers who have read my work patiently for many years, I owe a huge debt of gratitude: Brooke Maggs, Michelle Deans, Richard Holt, Carla Fedi, Melinda Dundas, Jo Horsburgh, Simon Mitchell, Melissa Keil, Jacinda Woodhead, Benjamin Laird, Nean McKenzie, Lucy Stewart, Vivienne Ulman, Anthony Holden, Jason Cotter, Damean Posner, Suzanne Donisthorpe and Danielle Binks. And especially to Suzy Zail, who has walked beside me unwaveringly.
I am indebted to Sarah Butler, who first took me to Glastonbury over twenty years ago. We climbed the misty Tor at midwinter and the seed of Daughter of Albion was sown.
Thank you to Lyn and Tim Nitschke, for caring for my children during the years of writing and to Jane Mills for the same, as well as her reassurance and love.
And to Adam, Toby and Amaya: my earth, sun and moon.
Ilka Tampke
MOUNT MACEDON, NOVEMBER 2014
About the Author
Ilka Tampke’s short stories and articles have been published in several anthologies and in 2012 she was awarded a Glenfern Fellowship. She is author of Daughter of Albion and lives near Melbourne, Australia, with her family. You can sign up for author updates here.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
1: The Great Deluge
2: The Singing
3: Names
4: Balance and Order
5: Sacred Love
6: Freedom
7: Water
8: The Salmon of Knowledge
9: The Hardworld
10: Freedom
11: The Geas
12: The Skinsong
13: Truth
14: Ceremony
15: Boundaries
16: Steadiness
17: Virtue
18: The Earth
19: Trees
20: Strong People
21: Ritual
23: Flight
24: Knowledge and Love
25: The Guarding of the Dead
26: Self-knowledge
27: Language
28: Bridging the Worlds
29: Initiation
30: Poems
31: Disturbance
32: Destruction
33: The Kendra
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Newsletter Sign-up
Contents
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
DAUGHTER OF ALBION. Copyright © 2015 by Ilka Tampke. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
Map by Simon Barnard
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Tampke, Ilka, author.
Title: Daughter of Albion : a novel / Ilka Tampke.
Other titles: Skin
Description: First U.S. edition. | New York : Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s
Press, 2016. | “First published in Australia under the title Skin by The
Text Publishing Company”—Title page verso.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015044856
eISBN: 978-1-4668-9299-6
Subjects: LCSH: Foundlings—Fiction. | Great Britain—History—To 55 B.C.—
Fiction. | GSAFD: Historical fiction.
Classification: LCC PR9619.4.T26 S55 2016 | DDC 823/.92—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015044856
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First published in Australia under the title Skin by The Text Publishing Company
First U.S. Edition: April 2016