Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country: A Novel (Guenevere Novels) - Softcover

Miles, Rosalind

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0609806505 ISBN 13: 9780609806500

Publisher: Crown, 2000

Synopsis

Last in a line of proud queens elected to rule the fertile lands of the West, true owner of the legendary Round Table, guardian of the Great Goddess herself . . . a woman whose story has never been told -- until now.

Raised in the tranquil beauty of the Summer Country, Princess Guenevere has led a charmed and contented 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 the bold, sensuous princess, Arthur offers to marry her and unite their territories, allowing her to continue to reign in her own right. Their love match creates the largest and most powerful kingdom in the Isles. Yet even the glories of Camelot are not safe from the shadows of evil and revenge. Arthur is reunited with his long-lost half-sisters, Morgause and Morgan, princesses torn from their mother and their ancestral right by Arthur's father, the brutal and unscrupulous King Uther. Both daughters will avenge their suffering, but it is Morgan who strikes the deadliest blows, using her enchantments to destroy all Guenevere holds dear and to force Arthur to betray his Queen.

In the chaos that follows, Arthur dispatches a new knight to Guenevere, the young French prince Lancelot, never knowing that Lancelot's passion for the Queen, and hers for him, may be the love that spells ruin for Camelot.

About this title

Review:

This is the first part of a trilogy chronicling the life of Queen Guenevere. Beginning with the young King Arthur who is preparing for the war that will unite Britain, the book recounts the marriage of Guenevere and Arthur, the growth of Arthur's court, and Guenevere's adulterous affair with Lancelot.

Although told mainly from Guenevere's point of view, this is a truly epic narrative, encompassing pageantry, political intrigue, war, and the conflict between the old pagan religion and Christianity. At times earthy, sensual, and violent, it is a powerful romantic drama firmly rooted in historical Britain, a modern yet traditional retelling of the stories given definitive form in the first four books of Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur.

The characters are grippingly evoked as realistic, living, and breathing human beings rather than simple archetypes, yet the writing is effortlessly lyrical, with the elegant flow of folktale. In emotional depth, Guenevere is comparable to Parke Godwin's fine Arthurian romance, Firelord.

This title is Rosalind Miles's 17th book. She is the author of the highly praised I, Elizabeth and The Women's History of the World. In 1990, she won the Network Award for outstanding achievement in the field of writing, and the same year she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. --Gary S. Dalkin, Amazon.co.uk

From the Publisher:

CAMELOT, AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE
I've been a fan of Arthurian novels for most of my life, and I thought I'd read it all. So when this manuscript came across my desk, I was skeptical. After over a thousand years of telling and retelling, was there really any chance that yet another writer could breathe new life into an old legend? Was I ever wrong. This fresh, original, bold, sensuous novel is nothing short of dazzling. I was astonished, and you will be too when you enter Guenevere's world.

You'll meet Queen Maire, Guenevere's beautiful warrior mother and her wolvish, power-hungry cousin Malagaunt. You'll ride into Caerleon alongside the iron-fisted young Arthur Pendragon, an ambitious war-lord whose dreams of building an empire lead him to the Summer Country, and Guenevere. You'll come to know Arthur's regal mother, the tragic Queen Igraine, and her daughter Morgan le Fay, whose black magic and bitter vendetta wreak havoc on Guenevere, Arthur and their kingdom. And finally, you will fall in love with the young and passionate French knight Lancelot, who forsakes his king for a queen half a lifetime older than he--the first great love match in all of England's history.

Rosalind Miles is not the first storyteller to take us inside Camelot, but she is unquestionably one of the best. If you were one of the millions who loved The Mists of Avalon, The Crystal Cave or The Once and Future King, you will understand why Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country, can rightfully take its place with these great classics of Arthurian legend. Happy reading!

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0609806505
• ISBN 13: 9780609806500
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 544