Reading : « The Celtic Ring » by Björn Larsson

The author

Born in Sweden in 1953, Full Professor of French Literature at the University of Lünd in Sweden, his first novel, "Long John Silver", published in 1992, quickly achieved real success. Danish Translator, English and French, philologist and criticist, he has been invited on many occasions to the "Etonnants Voyageurs" Festival in Saint-Malo.

Björn Larsson lived in the United States, in France and Ireland, including six years on board a sailing boat, the Rustica. Experimented sailorman, he cruised the seas from Scotland to Ireland, from the North Sea to Brittany and Galicia, in the time of dead reckoning and gonio.

Her second novel, "Den Keltiska Ringen", appeared in Swedish in 1992, and in French published by Denoël under the title " Le Cercle Celtique " in 1995.

The Story

As its author defines it himself, Le Cercle Celtique :

… is not a real thriller, There is no cop, No survey, Only one dead ! The English and Americans classify it as a maritime novel. In Germany and Italy, novel tout court. Maybe that's the best. ”

From two surprising meetings, including the skipper of a catamaran that arrived in the middle of a stormy night in the port of Dragør, the narrator finds himself immersed in an adventure that will take him from Denmark to the wild coasts of western Scotland aboard the Rustica, a sailboat of 31 feet.

Assisted by his old friend Torben, Ulf will have to face the dangers of the North Sea in the middle of winter, and especially members of the mysterious Celtic Ring and their murderers rituals. In this suspense novel, which blends tracking, regards, death and love, everything is true, but the story ! The sailboat is indeed that of the author, The sea course and the places are perfectly real, You can track them on any maritime map.

With this novel, Björn Larsson approach the great nautical adventure writers like Edgar Allan Poe (The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym), Jules Verne (The Ice Sphynx) or Joseph Conrad (Typhoon).

Beyond the story, the author takes us on a magnificent nautical journey through Scotland, its wild countries, its strong tidal streams, but its fabulous anchorages accessible to hardened sailors. And if the mood takes you to repeat the nautical trip Rustica, be sure that you will not be the first : Many fans of the novel have already gone before you ! (*)