Author | Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson |
---|---|
Cover artist | John Jude Palencar |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Avalon Series |
Genre | Fantasy, Historical |
Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | November 6, 1997 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) and audio-CD |
Pages | 464 pp |
ISBN | 0-670-85783-1 |
OCLC | 36008595 |
813/.54 21 | |
LC Class | PS3552.R228 L27 1997 |
Preceded by | The Forest House |
Followed by | Priestess of Avalon |
Lady of Avalon is a 1997 historical fantasy novel by American writers Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson. It is the sequel to The Forest House and the prequel to The Mists of Avalon .
The novel is divided into 3 parts. [1]
The first part shows the reader Caillean and Gawen (Eilan's son), whom the audience knows from the prequel, The Forest House .
Caillean assumes the role of High Priestess of Avalon and becomes foster mother to Gawen who, though raised as a Druid, receives lessons from the Fairy Queen. The queen, who has a half-mortal daughter, Sianna, arranges with Caillean that Sianna will study at Avalon. As Sianna and Gawen grow, they develop a special bond. At one point Gawen, in the throes of an identity crisis, seeks his Roman grandfather Macellius, who enables him to join the Roman army. Gawen spends several months in training with the Romans. Separated from his unit during his first battle, he makes his way back to Avalon, at one point with supernatural assistance. Shortly after his return, he and Sianna marry in the ritual of Avalon. Gawen is killed the day after their wedding as he tries to protect Avalon from the Christians, who were formerly tolerant of the Druids but now have a fanatical leader, and a Roman patrol sent to find him and bring him back for punishment as a deserter. After Gawen's death and Avalon's discovery by the Roman patrol, Caillean hides Avalon in the mists, making it accessible only to those who have the proper training to penetrate them.
When Caillean grows old, Sianna succeeds her as High Priestess. Her daughter by Gawen succeeds her in turn, making Sianna the matriarch of a line of High Priestesses.
The second part tells the audience about High Priestess Dierna. She takes in a new novice named Teleri, a foreign princess who hopes to become a great priestess. When Dierna receives a vision about the new Protector of Britannia, a Roman admiral named Carausius, she forces Teleri into marriage with him. Some years later, Carausius encounters opposition. Teleri leaves him and supports the bid of one of his former officers, Allectus, to become the new High King. Dierna and Carausius have a brief affair. Allectus pursues and wounds Carausius, who tries to reach the safety of Avalon and Dierna but fails, dying of his wounds at the edge of the lake of Avalon. Shortly afterward, Teleri leaves Allectus and finds her way back to Avalon, where she is reunited with Dierna, completes her training and eventually becomes her successor.
This part opens as the High Priestess Ana sends the Druid bard Taliesin to escort her third daughter, Viviane, to Avalon. Viviane had been fostered on a farm, but when she is fourteen years old, her mother recalls her to Avalon to take the place of her two older sisters, who had died. Since Viviane's strong temperament is similar to her mother's, the two often clash. Viviane completes her training as a priestess, but Ana refuses to allow her initiation, forcing Viviane to remain a novice—and a virgin—for much longer than usual. Although Viviane chafes at what she considers to be an unjust restriction, her virgin state enables her to become the first woman in centuries to handle the Holy Grail, which is kept by Taliesin's order of Druids. Finally, Viviane is initiated when she becomes the lover of the British chief Vortimer. When Vortimer dies, Viviane returns to Avalon carrying his child, a daughter who lives only three months. Meanwhile, Ana has become pregnant, but is too old to give birth safely. She and Viviane forgive each other as they await the birth. Ana dies in childbirth, but the baby, Morgause, survives. Viviane, whose breasts are still producing milk, becomes wet-nurse and foster-mother to her half-sister.
The end of the book leads to the storyline of The Mists of Avalon . [2]
The novel received a mixed reception, and was less successful than The Mists of Avalon. [3] Publishers Weekly called Lady of Avalon a "splendid" prequel that "combines romance, rich historical detail, magical dazzlements, grand adventure and feminist sentiments into the kind of novel [Bradley's] fans have been yearning for." [4]
Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy, historical fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy novels, and is best known for the Arthurian fiction novel The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series. Noted for the feminist perspective in her writing, her reputation has been posthumously marred by her daughter Moira Greyland's accusations of child sexual abuse, and for allegedly assisting her second husband, convicted child abuser Walter Breen, in sexually abusing multiple unrelated children.
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after the play Norma, ou L'infanticide by Alexandre Soumet. It was first produced at La Scala in Milan on 26 December 1831.
The Lady of the Lake is a name or a title used by several either fairy or fairy-like but human enchantresses in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. She plays several important roles in many stories, including providing Arthur with the sword Excalibur, eliminating Merlin, raising Lancelot after the death of his father, and helping to take the dying Arthur to Avalon. Different sorceresses known as the Lady of the Lake appear concurrently as separate characters in some versions of the legend since at least the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently the seminal Le Morte d'Arthur, with the latter describing them as a hierarchical group, while some texts also give this title to either Morgan or her sister.
The Mists of Avalon is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which the author relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters. The book follows the trajectory of Morgaine, a priestess fighting to save her Celtic religion in a country where Christianity threatens to destroy the pagan way of life. The epic is focused on the lives of Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), Viviane, Morgause, Igraine and other women of the Arthurian legend.
The Warlord Chronicles or The Warlord Trilogy is a series of three novels about Arthurian Britain written by Bernard Cornwell. The story is written as a mixture of historical fiction and Arthurian legend. The books were originally published between 1995 and 1997 by Penguin and Michael Joseph in the United Kingdom and by St. Martin's Press in the United States, in hardcover and paperback editions, each with different ISBNs. It is currently being adapted for television as The Winter King.
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Diana Lucile Paxson is an American author, primarily in the fields of Paganism and Heathenism. Her published works include fantasy and historical fiction novels, as well as numerous short stories. More recently she has also published books about Pagan and Heathen religions and practices. She is a founder of the Society for Creative Anachronism, where she is known as Countess Diana Listmaker.
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The Avalon Series is a series of fantasy novels written by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson. Paxson took over sole authorship after Bradley's death in 1999. The series focuses on the legendary island of Avalon and the various women who have shaped its history and that of Britain.
Niniane can refer to:
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