Besides she was certain that this overnight pilgrimage to the Holy Well at Roche would help her mother. The last plodding hours through rainy mist and mud had scarcely discomforted the girl, for she was very young and eager, nor had ever left home before. THE FOGS WERE STILL DRIPPING in from the Atlantic when Merewyn met the stranger by the Camel River.

Great Britain-History-Anglo-Saxon period, 449–1066-Fiction. The Library of Congresss has cataloged the print edition as follows:ġ.

Read moreĬopyright renewed 1993 by Pamela Cottier Forcey and Clemency Chase Cogginsįor information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016. And he will journey across the Atlantic to find her again . . .įrom the beloved bestselling author of Katherine and Dragonwyck, this is a romantic tale of history and adventure “characterized by an authentic sense of time” ( The New York Times Book Review). At court, he is dazzled by the beautiful Queen Alfrida-but when a murderous truth is revealed, he turns to Merewyn, only to discover that he may have lost her. Chance-or fate-in the form of a shipwreck off the Cornish coast brought Rumon and Merewyn together, and from that hour their lives were intertwined.īound by his vow to her dying mother, Rumon brings Merewyn safely to England, keeping hidden the shameful secret of her birth. Merewyn grew up in savage Cornwall-a lonely girl, sustained by stubborn courage and belief in her descent from great King Arthur. He had visions of the Islands of the Blessed, perhaps King Arthur’s Avalon, “where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow.” Prince Rumon of France, descendant of Charlemagne and King Alfred, was a searcher. The last quarter of the tenth century was a time of conflict and exploration-while the Anglo-Saxons fought against the Vikings, Norsemen voyaged into the unknown looking for new lands to pillage, and so discovered America.

A novel of England during the Viking era, from an author who “has vividly and colorfully portrayed life during the tumultuous Dark Ages” (Historical Novels Review).

Avalon by Anya Seton