Title: The Ladies of the Lake - Volume 1 - Marion Zimmer Bradley - book
Summary :
The legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table has not, for a long time, inspired a novel of such scope and such breath. And, for the first time, this epic drama is told to us by a woman through the fate of its main heroines. Of course, Merlin the Magician, Arthur and his invincible sword Excalibur, Lancelot of the Lake and his valiant companions, all are present, but here it is the women, exceptionally endearing, who play the leading roles: Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, high priestess of Avalon, Ygerne, Duchess of Cornwall and mother of Arthur, his wife Guinevere, Morgane the Fairy, sister and lover of the great king... Based on several years of research, this captivating epic is much more than just another historical novel. It tells the merciless struggle of two irreconcilable worlds, that of the Druids and the ancient beliefs desperately defending a lost paradise and that of the new Christian religion gradually supplanting rites and mysteries rooted in the heart of Great Britain before it became England. Beyond dream and reality, beyond tumultuous passions, where carnal love, far from any notion of sin, could express itself freely, beyond court intrigues, tears and blood, here is a new and fascinating reconstruction of one of the most enduring romantic themes in the entire history of the West. An eternal story of love and death, lived and felt intensely by those without whom the exhilarating adventure of the Knights of the Round Table, opposing the forces of evil and men of good will, would never have existed.
