This is book #1 of the Warder Trilogy, comprising Throwback’s Realm, Tree Thinker and Heavy Biscuits.

An unusually small man named Martin Farrell is a very successful agricultural professional, using strange methods that set him apart from other people.  His parents were Irish post-war immigrants to New Zealand, both of burly Celtic build, but Martin has Asian facial features (eyes, skin colour), but with light curly hair.  X-rays reveal extended ribs with an unusual, wide, fluted breastbone, and DNA testing later proves that he is not descended from normal modern humans at all.  He must be descended from a closely-related branch of hominids, now either wholly or partially extinct, that must have once lived in or near Ireland, where his parents were born.  He has often been labeled a throwback, and is extremely defensive about this, perhaps because he understands that it is probably true.  But a throwback to what?  To whom?

Martin, like a small number of others, can see auras around growing things, and has developed a way to draw energy from the overall bio-mass of the earth via large trees to invert their auras.  Manipulation of inverted aura-fields changes the health of associated trees, and he has developed this skill into a lucrative forestry and farming business.  His most famous work has been in Canada, where he has warded large blocks of forest wilderness to successfully battle acid rain.  That results in an invitation from the West German government to investigate the Black Forest, which suffers similar degradation in its northern reaches.
When he visits the Black Forest, he finds an enclosure formed of warded trees – he had previously assumed that he was the only one able to do that – and meets an unusual man who is plainly of similar genetic descent to himself, and who describes himself as a Gatekeeper.  This sets in train a series of events that leads to the discovery of a hidden race of people living in a time-shifted dimension overlaying much of Western Europe – a parallel universe.  His genetic similarity to them, plus his apparently magical abilities with manipulation of plant energies, leads these people to see Martin as their ‘Venia’ – revered ancestor.  His German friend is revealed to be a half-caste.

After difficulties coming to terms with his heritage and his social responsibilities, Martin commits himself to helping the citizens of the Hidden Realm, and eventually goes to live there permanently.  These people are believed to be the source of all the European myths about Elves, and there can now be no doubt that Martin is sprung from their stock.  Martin and his colleagues help them to overcome serious problems and, as a very determined ‘Outsider’, he becomes a catalyst for sweeping social change.  He is eventually appointed the Ala Daq Da – the Realm Wizard.

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