"It could be a meeting on the street, or at a party or a lecture, or just a simple, banal introduction, then suddenly there is the flash of recognition and the embers of kinship glow. There is an awakening between you, a sense of ancient knowing." This quotation defines my novel. When it was within weeks of being finished, I found, serendipitously, in Bill's Used Books in Fort Saint John, BC, John O'Donohue's Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom , and the quote contained within it, on p. 23. I wasn't able to get permission in time to include this in the published work, but I like to share it aloud before a reading and before talking about the book. I like the way it suggests a "spiritual genealogy" and the hidden connections of blood and of place. Anam Cara translates as "soul friend."