Publisher's Synopsis
The last volcano in what is now southern France, erupted in 4000BC. The Chasseen Legends is a trilogy that follow one of the first families who transitioned from hunter-gatherers to farmers in southern France. You are instantly immersed in the lives of five generations of a family moving from mountainous hunters to plains farmers. The backdrop of the story took years of research by interpreting the work of archaeologists digging in the area. However, the drama and suspense in the family as they move through this time period near the end of the stone age is the driving force of the trilogy.
The first book, Ancient Blood, tells the story of hunter-gatherers, Busher and Treaulee, who live in the mountains. Their life is upended when a volcanic eruption forces them to trek for years, making their way down into the plains. Their clan's god tells them to make "a home at the bottom of a hill, by the river's edge."During their long journey, their first son, Ashland, is born. They find another couple who share their journey, but have to adopt the couple's daughter, Averni, when the mother dies. Once they reach their destination, the second son, Dubnoald, is born as the family struggles to transition from hunters to gardeners in the vast, new land.As the children grow, Ashland and Averni want to become farmers. Dubnoald wants to return to his father's roots as a hunter. However, Dubnoald pledged to his father that he would stay in the family and follow Ashland, the oldest.Ashland finds hunter clans who want to live together and farm, but Dubnoald is determined to return to hunting. As the trials of learning to grow crops begin to grind the villagers' enthusiasm down, the brothers clash and fight to steer the families in different directions. When a group of hunters raid their village, this whole new life-style of planting and reaping is threatened with annihilation.
Can the brothers join forces in one last chance to accept each other's choices or will they fall to the hunter's attack? Warfare, a clash of egos, guilt, trauma, beer. Not everything has changed in 6000 years.
