Great Fiction

The Once and Future Celt

A Memoir

by Bill Watkins

Twenty-one year old Bill is stranded in a Gypsy camp with an injured foot, cared for the beautiful, unattainable Riena. The Gypsies, or Romany, suffer a negative reputation in Britain, a notion that Bill’s stay challenges. With his prowess on the fiddle and keen interest in their culture, the Gypsies—and Riena—grow to accept him. Bill discovers that his Celtic roots may not be so different from the misunderstood Romany.

After making his way back to his parents’ home in Birmingham, he has difficulty finding work in recession-ravaged England. When he finally lands a position loading dishes at a university cafeteria, he tells his proud Irish mother only the “university” part. Meanwhile, his Welsh father takes him to his ancestral homeland to reveal family secrets. In search of a new love, Bill soon leaves home again and on his travels he comes full circle in his spiritual journey to be a true Celt.

The Once and Future Celt is an engaging, hilarious meditation on the power of family, identity, the origins of language and the opposite sex. It completes a trilogy started by A Celtic Childhood and Scotland Is Not for the Squeamish, and is a gem of a memoir on its own.

“The title of The Once and Future Celt hints at the good natured whimsy which pervades this delightful book.  Watkins has composed a personalized picaresque exploration of what the scholarly constructs of ‘Celtic’ mean to ordinary Britons in the context of modern, post-imperial Britain.  Based upon a narrative of his own adventures as a footloose young man and drawing upon his personal Welsh and Irish heritage, the author has created an engaging quest for the ‘Camelot of the Mind.’  Episodes featuring the genuine ‘other culture of Romany (‘gypsies’ or travelers) and the made-up ‘other’ worldly culture of undergraduate medieval role-players will lead readers to wonder how much ‘Celtic’ is a product of individual invention and how much a label based on historical traditions.  This book will appeal both to those who enjoy a fast-paced read populated with an array of well sketched characters and to those who enjoy ruminating about the issues which it explores."
– Frederick Suppe, President, Celtic Studies Association of North America 

“They say the third time's the charm. Bill Watkins' first two books had charm in spades, but the third in his trilogy tells you the ‘why’ to the other two books’ ‘what.’ In The Once And Future Celt, a young man at once wise beyond his years and goofily open to the whims of the universe sets out on the road shortly before his twenty-first birthday to find his true purpose in life. He encounters Gypsies, privileged-but-clueless college students, his contentious but loving parents, bureaucratic officiousness and strange fellow sojourners on his way. In his travels he also finds love, wisdom, the key to his Celtic roots and his future path (hence the title). Bill Watkins is a born storyteller, descended from a long line (on both sides) of Celtic yarn-spinners.  He manages to be disarming, funny, entertaining, and possesses a keen grasp of human nature and its foibles, often all within the same sentence. Read this book and be mightily entertained.”
– Sherry Ladig, contributing editor, Scottish News In Minnesota

"It's obvious that Bill Watkins loves language. And he is not afraid to use it. A very enjoyable read."
– Alphie McCourt, author of A Long Stone's Throw

Bill Watkins was born in Birmingham, England, to a Welsh/Irish family in 1950. His bilingual parents were notable traditional singers. Having learned to play the tin whistle, fiddle, guitar, banjo, and mandolin at an early age, Watkins is an accomplished singer/songwriter whose most famous ditty, “The Errant Apprentice,” has been recorded worldwide. Watkins lives in Minneapolis, where he builds pubs in the British Isles style and serves as a cultural ambassador at Merlins Rest Pub. He's currently working on his next book, The Fiasco Society. www.merlinsrest.com/bill-watkins/