"Tales of the Traveler" - Being the account of inexplicable events recorded by Wilfred Trevy Farquhar, begun in the year of our Lord, 1888. It is as if the classic Gulliver's Travels was brought forward through the experience of the Twilight Zone, to become Tales of the Traveler, a deceptively simple little book that reveals profound truth. Like Tuesdays with Morrie, it allows readers to re-assess life and death in an inspirational context. As in the Princess Bride, folk tales become more real than every day life. The Traveler's tales are full of adventure and mystery; riotous Scottish Clans, battle ready Knights of King Arthur, a miracle working monks, a wild Russian, and heroes of many descriptions. The Traveler's tale itself begins with the death of his loved ones-both parents, brother, young wife, all within a year. These premature losses have left the young physician unable to practice medicine and facing an increasingly empty and meaningless future. Seeking to find his way forward by connecting to his genealogical past, he embarks on a mysterious journey, both geographic and spiritual, which eventually leads the good doctor to a new comprehension of life's profound miracles - but not before reality is challenged and normal is turned upside down The journal tells of "simple" folk experiences-sometimes his own, sometimes shared by others. He is touched by people of all stripes; ordinary people who share with him extraordinary experiences, as well as tales of great heroes, long passed. Each encounter takes Dr. Farquhar closer to the boundary of death, then through it, to a vision of life continuing well beyond; a gathering of the Scots clansmen who were his ancestors; a meeting with a man more than 150 years old; conversations with an old man, a young woman and a blacksmith, all of whom had stood with King Arthur and his knights atop the Cornish cliffs, in defense of their homeland. And in the end, a pivotal meeting with an old man-perhaps death himself-making bargains for eternal life. The tales told in this odd little book feel almost familiar as they transform fantasy into reality, inviting the reader to suspend their disbelief and travel with Dr. Farquhar, finding insight into this most universal longing of the human experience. Tales of the Traveler is one of those infrequent books, fitting no one genre, capturing the broadest possible readership-all those who wonder at the mysteries of life, mortality and miracles, then go seeking answers.
About the Author: I began my writing career in the 5th grade with my story Winter Woes of the Sled-Dog North of the Arctic Circle." In college I wrote poetry and short stories. My writing heroes were Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Frost - strange bedfellows I might add. after College a more practical life of marriage and career closed out my writing, until I reached the place in life approaching retirement where revitalization occurred. Basing my first attempt at a novel on my experience as a psychotherapist, I wrote Hidden Grace a fictionalized account of one of my patients, a woman in her sixties who had been severely abused in a succession of foster homes during the Great Depression. Grace (not her real name) entered therapy reluctantly on doctor's orders after nearly dying of self neglect. Her therapy advanced little at first, until she began writing a journal of her experiences. A journal, based on the real patient's actual journal, forms the basis of the novel as Grace moves from empty despair to realization of her dream to write, and she shares the strength and triumph of the human spirit. From Grace, I moved to psychological detective novels in the Ackerman/Savantro series... which follows the work of a psychologist and a police detective in their crime solving pursuit using the outer facts and the inner motives of perpetrator and victim as well. Then, while traveling in England and Ireland, a sudden inspiration brought forth Tales of the Traveler, the fictional reality journal of a traveler in the late eighteen hundreds who finds himself immersed in the inexplicable and wondrous, which challenges everything he has believed about life death and the meaning of it all. Now, I am almost fully retired, and devote myself to writing, a little acting, traveling, and immersing myself in the out of doors. I find immense purpose in discovering meaning in the awesome cosmos and in the creative genius of human minds. I live in Freeport, Maine with my wife, Betsy and am blessed with a talented extended family including my writer daughter, Jane Roper; my Musician son in law Alastair Moock; and my own musician son, Kevin Roper. With this family, I feel I must have done something right.