Rosalind Miles is a well-known and critically acclaimed English journalist, novelist, and broadcaster. Her novels, including I, Elizabeth and Return to Eden, have been international best-sellers. She lives in Kent, England.
This is the first part of a trilogy chronicling
the life of Queen Guenevere. Similar to the concept started by Mists of
Avalon, the story is told mainly from Guenevere's point of view, with all
the political intrigue, war, and the
conflict between the old pagan religion and Christianity.
Raised in the Summer Country, Princess Guenevere
has led a charmed life, until the sudden, violent death of
her mother, Queen Maire, leaves the Summer Country teetering on the brink
of anarchy. Only the miraculous arrival of Arthur, heir to the Pendragon
dynasty, allows Guenevere to claim her mother's throne. Smitten by
Guenevere, Arthur offers to marry her and unite their
territory while still allowing her to rule in her own right. Their love
match creates the largest and most powerful kingdom in the Isles.
But when Arthur is reunited
with his mother and his long-lost half-sisters, Morgause and Morgan, past
hurts and hates surface. Because of Uther, who banished Morgause into a cruel marriage and
imprisoning Morgan in a convent, both will seek to avenge their suffering.
But it is Morgan who tries to destroy Guenevere. When the Queen flees to Avalon, Morgan casts a spell on Arthur and
seduces him.
To protect Guenevere, Arthur sends a new courtier to
protect Guenevere, the young French knight Lancelot. Guenevere falls in love with Lancelot, a love that
will bring about the ruin of Camelot.
All my books have been dear to me, but Guenevere has meant the most
so far. Growing up in a market town in Shakespeare's Warwickshire I have
always been interested in British Queens, and this culminated in the
writing of I, Eizabeth, a historical novel written as a personal memoir by
the Virgin Queen. With Guenevere I have departed from that richly-textured
time into period where history overlaps with myth and legend amid the
dreamy landscape of our misty British isles. The early Celtic Britons had
a strong tradition of ruling queens, but the concentration on King Arthur
has eclipsed Guenevere as a queen in her own right. Few people know, for
instance, that she was the owner of the Round Table, and Arthur married
her to get it. My story of Guenevere takes us from her girlhood through
all the stages of her life. I have now completed the second in the
Guenevere trilogy, The Knight of the Sacred Lake, and am writing the
third, The Child of the Holy Grail, which will be the culmination of over
ten years' work on this truly engrossing theme.
The
author, Rosalind Miles, March 2, 1999
The second in the trilogy, Miles continues the story of Guenevere, forced to choose between love and duty for the sake of her kingdom.
The third and final installment in Miles' Guenevere trilogy
