NCW Libraries

In the tradition of T.H. White's The Once and Future King, the author makes use of the prerequisites of the Arthurian legend: Excalibur, the Holy Grail, Lancelet's illicit love for Gwenhwyfar, the destruction of Camelot, but with a twist--she presents the entire panoramic story from the female point of view. No passive by-standers, these earthy priestesses from Avalon literally breathe life into a musty, oft-told tale. In Book One: Mistress of Magic,...

Three royal sisters must undertake separate but equally perilous quests in order to defeat the dark sorcery that has ravaged their kingdom in book one of the Saga of the Trillium, an ingenious collaboration by three classic names in fantasy fiction. Peace has long reigned in Ruwenda thanks to the magical protection of the Archimage Binah. The realm's devoted guardian is aging, however, and her magic is weakening. When the kingdom's triplet princesses...

This is a story that they tell on the solitary farms on the borders of the Catskill mountains, where I grew up. It is a mistake to think that country is settled and modern, just because the big highways stretch from city to city, and the factories hold out clean jobs that pay better than the scratch-the-soil farming on shale rock. For between every farm is a stretch of woodland, and every farm has its own woods, and by night there are deer and rabbits...

With more than 1 million copies in print and winner of the 1984 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, "The Mists of Avalon" is by far Marion Zimmer BradleyUs most successful novel. Putting a new twist on the Arthurian legends, this beloved book tells the epic story of the women behind the rise and fall of King Arthur.

Best-selling author Marion Zimmer Bradley skillfully blends enchanting romance, supernatural ritual, and daring exploits in this eagerly-awaited prelude to the blockbuster fantasy series, The Mists of Avalon. Foreshadowing the mystical birth of King Arthur, Lady of Avalon paints a lush portrait of the turbulence and grandeur of ancient Britain while Rome ruled the Isles. Throughout Britannia, Roman soldiers are destroying those who follow the Druid's...

Torn between love and duty, a reluctant young acolyte will be called on to magically save her imperiled world in this enthralling chapter of the Saga of the Trillium Of the three royal siblings who made up the Petals of the Living Trillium, only Lady Haramis survives nine hundred years after the events that nearly devastated their realm. But the Archimage is old and ill, and a successor must be found if Ruwenda is to remain safe and protected. In...

Nobody alive knew how the feud between Storn and Hammefell had begun, but that didn't stop the fighting. When Storn's men burned Hammerfell's castle, his infant twin sons were separated, and each grew up thinking himself the rightful Duke of Hammerfell. Conn, raised in the mountains by his father's paxman, continued to fight the Storns. Alastair grew up with his mother in Thendara and planned to marry his cousin Floria. But when Conn came to Thendara...

This imaginative return to the Arthurian legend as told from its pagan priestesses continues with Book Two: The High Queen. Morgaine, finally reconciled to the birth of her son, must relinquish him to her aunt Morgause in exchange for the kept secret regarding his parentage. Arthur marries the timid but dutiful Gwenhwyfar, while ongoing wars with the Saxon invaders continue to rage across the land. Morgaine, tired of worldly concerns, attempts to...

Jaelle has been raised in the harsh patriarchal environment of the Dry Towns. Her mother Mellora is a Comyn woman who has been kidnapped in order to breed laran-gifted offspring for her barbarian "husband." But when a desperate, pregnant Mellora dies in childbirth following a daring escape aided by a band of Renunciates, the still young Jaelle is adopted into the Guild, and becomes the Free Amazon Jaelle n'ha Mellora, a woman who has never known kindness...

During the lawless Ages of Chaos, when the ruling families of Darkover ruthlessly inbred their laran-gifted offspring to gain powerful talents, a baby was born to the lord of Aldaran. This child, born on a dark and thunder-filled night--, was possessed of a terrifying and uncontrolled talent: Dorilys, heiress to her father's domain, could unwittingly call forth lightning, even while still a fretful child. Fearful for his daughter's life and the safety...