Between the times (novel)

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Between the Times (English original title: The New Policeman , "Der neue Polizist") is a youth novel by the British author Kate Thompson from 2005. The German edition was translated by Kattrin Stier and was published in 2006 by cbj- Verlag. In the book, the author uses Irish folk music and Celtic mythology .

The book was followed by two sequels, The Last of the High Kings (2007; " The Last of the High Kings ") and The White Horse Trick (2010; "The Trick with the White Horse"), both of which were not published in German.

construction

The book has 320 pages. It consists of six parts, which are divided into a total of 54 chapters. At the end of each chapter, the sheet music stands for a traditional Irish piece of music, the title of which relates to the content of the respective chapter.

The book begins with a foreword by the author, in which she tells about the creation of the book and the pieces of music it contains. At the end there is also a glossary with word explanations for some terms from Irish folk music and Celtic mythology, a list of all included and mentioned pieces of music (with translation of the title) and a bibliography in which further literature on Celtic mythology is listed.

content

prehistory

Once upon a time, people could move freely between the ordinary world and the Tír na nÓg , where there is no time. Then there was a battle between the Tuatha de Danaan (later referred to as fairies ) and the humans. The Tuatha army was led by Dagda but suffered heavy losses. An agreement was reached that stipulated that the Tuatha should never return to the human world.

In 1935 Ireland passed the Public Dance Hall Act, which allowed the Catholic Church to crack down on Irish dance music, which it regarded as a remnant of pagan fairy beliefs. The Liddys from Kinvara had always been a musical family. As a result, Rev. Father Doherty and John Joseph Liddy were hostile to each other. When the pastor took Liddy's flute with him after an argument with him and disappeared without a trace, the rumor arose that Liddy had murdered Father Doherty.

action

A new policeman, Larry O'Dwyer, joins Kinvara Garda . He comes into contact with the musicians during curfew in the town's pubs. He is looking for something but is not sure what he is looking for. Fifteen-year-old JJ Liddy (the great-grandson of John Joseph) finds out that time is passing faster and faster. His mother Helen jokingly wished for more time for her birthday.

The publisher Anne Korff accidentally discovered the entrance to the Tír na nÓg in an earth chamber, where the Tuatha de Danaan live. There is no time there, but for an unknown cause there was a leak in the time envelope, which means that time is constantly flowing from the human world into Tír na nÓg. Anne Korff tries on her side to find the leak while Aengus Óg examines his side. In addition, the Tuatha de Danaan are looking for the piece of music "Dowd's Number Nine", which they forgot a long time ago.

JJ mentions to Anne Korff that he would like to give his mother time, whereupon she takes him to Tír na nÓg. There he and Aengus Óg go on a search for the time leak. But he is not able to play the Tuatha “Dowd's Number Nine” because he has forgotten it himself. In the meantime, Kinvara police are looking for the missing youth. Anne Korff also disappears because she can no longer tear herself away from the magic of Tír na nÓg.

JJ meets Aengus' father Dagda . He has been reproaching himself since the lost battle and does not want to look for the leak. But he gives JJ and Aengus a clue where to look. JJ then meets Father Doherty in an earth chamber, who got into Tír na nÓg after the argument with John Joseph Liddy.

The pastor wants to destroy the "fairy kingdom" by causing the time leak with Liddy's flute. JJ shows him that he has already achieved his goal, whereupon Father Doherty returns to the human kingdom, where he turns to dust due to the past time. JJ returns home with his great-grandfather's flute, where time is back to normal. He finds out that the new cop Larry O'Dwyer is really Aengus Óg. In addition, Aengus was previously in Kinvara, where he became the father of JJ's mother Helen.

With a Céilí , JJ can come up with a new playing technique and new pieces from Tír na nÓg. With the help of his mother, he finally also plays “Dowd's Number Nine”, with which he “pays” the Tuatha de Danaan for the newly gained time.

History of origin

An auction was held in Kinvara, where Kate Thompson was living at the time , where promises were put up. The author promised to include the name of the bidder in her next book. The local publisher Anne Korff was the highest bidder. However, there was disagreement about whether only the name or the whole person should appear in the book. Finally, Kate Thompson came up with the idea for Between the Times and, in addition to Anne Korff, she also incorporated the fiddle-playing pharmacist Séadna Tobín and the landlady Mary Green into the book.

Pieces of music

The titles of the pieces of music are listed here in the order in which they appear in the book. Most of them are at the end of a chapter with the notes (the number refers to the chapter number), a few are only mentioned in the chapter. Most of these are traditional, non- copyrighted pieces. Exceptions are three pieces composed by Kate Thompson herself and The One That Was Lost (Chapter 1, Part 3), which was written by Paddy O'Brien .

From part 1

  1. The Legacy (also mentioned: The Irish Washerwoman )
  2. The New Policeman - The new police officer
  3. The New-Mown Meadow - The freshly mown meadow
  4. Lucy Campbell
  5. The Cup of Tea - The cup of tea
  6. The Reconciliation Reel - The Reconciliation Dance
  7. The Drunken Landlady - The drunken landlady
  8. Rolling in the Barrel - Rolling in the barrel (or: spinning in the drum)
  9. The Concertina Reel - The concertina dance
  10. The Wise Maid - The wise maid
  11. The Stony Steps - The stone steps
  12. Garrett Barry's Jig - Garrett Barry's dance
  13. The Teetotaller - The teetotaler
  14. The Priest and His Boots - The priest and his boots
  15. The Fair-Haired Boy - The blond boy
  16. Tomorrow Morning - Tomorrow morning
  17. Last Night's Fun - Last night's fun

From part 2

  1. The Lad That Can Do It - The Boy Who Can Do It
  2. Farewell to Ireland - Farewell to Ireland
  3. The Bird in the Bush - The bird in the bush
  4. The Big Bow-Wow - The big bow , woof
  5. The Eavesdropper - the eavesdropper
  6. Drowsy Maggie - Die Müde Maggie (also mentioned: The Blackthorn Stick - Der Schlehdornstock, The Skylark - Die Feldlerche)

From part 3

  1. The One That Was Lost (by Paddy O'Brien)
  2. The Setting Sun - The setting sun
  3. The Gold Ring - The gold ring
  4. It'll Come To Me (by Kate Thompson)
  5. The Fairy Hornpipe - The fairy dance
  6. The Yellow Wattle - The yellow wattle / The yellow acacia (also mentioned: The Yellow Bottle )
  7. The Gravel Walks - The gravel paths
  8. Free and Easy - Free and unbound
  9. Pigeon on the Gate - The pigeon on the gate
  10. The White Donkey (by Kate Thompson)
  11. The Cuckoo's Nest - The cuckoo 's nest
  12. The Wild Irishman - The wild Irishman
  13. Out on the Ocean - Out on the ocean
  14. Contentment is wealth - satisfaction is wealth
  15. The Púka - The Púka (by Kate Thompson)

From part 4

  1. Sergeant Early's Jig - Seargeant Early's dance
  2. The Green Mountain - The Green Mountain
  3. The Mountain Top - The mountain top
  4. King of the Fairies - King of the Fairies
  5. The Angry Peeler - The Mad peeler
  6. The Priest with the Collar - The priest with the collar
  7. After the Sun Goes Down - After sunset

From part 5

  1. The Rainy Day - The rainy day
  2. Devaney's Goat - Devaney's goat
  3. The New Century - The new century
  4. My Mind Will Never Be Easy - I will never be reassured
  5. Far From Home - Far from home
  6. The Maple Tree - The maple tree

From part 6

  1. Welcome Home - Welcome home
  2. Grandfather's Pet - Grandfather's Favorite
  3. Dowd's Number Nine - Dowd's number nine

Awards

Book editions

  • Kate Thompson: The New Policeman . The Bodley Head (Random House), London 2005, ISBN 0-370-32823-X .
  • Kate Thompson: Between the Times . 1st edition. cbj (Random House), Munich 2006, ISBN 3-570-13105-X (Original title: The New Policeman . London 2005. Translated by Kattrin Stier).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ THE WHITBREAD BOOK AWARDS. (PDF) Costa Book Awards, archived from the original on July 8, 2011 ; Retrieved July 2, 2012 .
  2. ^ Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2005. In: The Guardian . Retrieved July 1, 2012 .
  3. ^ A b The New Policeman. KateThompson.info, accessed March 1, 2016 .