Umai
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley September 22, 2024
Author Tagai Tarutin
Distributor: Amazon UK
ISBN: 978-1800946811
Publisher: Michael Terence Publishing
Release Date: November 2023
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Tagai Tarutin has set his second novel Umai, one of whimsy, love and spiritualism, in the Mid-West of America, Wyoming, a place where horses are bred for racing and work and the peak of the Grand Teton, is an everyday vista to the people who live on the plains below.
Far back in time a young woman, of beauty and grace was selected to be a rare and wonderful member of the Spirit World, that of a Sharmanka: her name is Umai and she moves across time and Worlds with ease, her own place is in the far regions of what was once the Mongolian Empire. She is considered in many countries as a legend; a mysterious figure on a massive horse, that appears before change occurs on a global level.
She has a taken a vow of purity and celibacy which has held since her childhood, until this particular event she must undertake: an event which will bring uncertainly, change and devastation to those world-wide who are involved with horses.
In a chance encounter, Umai meets, Robert, a man who is kind, generous and breeds horses. His family have lived and worked on the plains for many generations; his mother, a widow of only recent years.
As the story unfolds the imagination is stretched to be able to accept what is happening as Umai and Robert faller deeper in love, in spite of the conflict this will cause. Umai pleads their case on many occasions with those who are her controllers, only to be refused.
Well aware of what will happen if she persists, as mortals are not allowed to enter the spiritual realm, she and Robert try desperately to find a way they can be together forever.
Slow paced, repetitious at times and almost considered as pedantic, the style of writing somehow seems to work with this storyline, as every carefully constructed and placed word, begins to build slowly around an event which will see all the horses, Equues Caballus, taken from the earth and sent to Nirvana, in order to right a great wrong.
Umai is a story of love and conflict, purpose and passion told in gentle, delicate words, which in its slow style, is most enjoyable.