Mists of avalon how many pages

Like, did the author have bipolar attacks while writing this? I honestly don't spend a whole lot of time detailing characters' faces. Tell me they're tall, red-haired, have a scar on their face and that's just perfect. I'm interested in the plot, not the size of everybodys' big toes. The writing itself could have been okay, but because its subject was crap, it was not okay. This book was bad, it really was.

After a good pages, I just skimmed another , and then skipped the last part and skimmed the epilogue. View all comments. Y'all need to tell me when I start reading a book by a child rapist. At least I only made it 85 pages before figuring out this was that author warning: the later paragraphs of this post turn homophobic View all 30 comments.

My final book of ! I did not think I would finish it before the end of the year. I started it back on October 1st and it was slow going. I often found myself not reading it for days at a time. But, with a week to go in and about or so pages left, I buckled down and finished it at around on December 31st!

You might think that my opinion of this book will not be stellar considering it was slow going. About a week ago when I committed to fini My final book of !

About a week ago when I committed to finishing it before the end of the year that was where I thought it would end up, too. However, the story really came together for me and I actually quite enjoyed the storytelling. It is indeed a large book and quite a commitment, but if you love fantasy and Arthurian legend, it is worth checking out. In some of my discussions with my book friends we were trying to figure out what Bradley was going for with this book. Having finished, I am not sure it is much clearer.

Here are a couple of topics that came up frequently: Feminism — If she was going for the feminist viewpoint, why are pretty much all the female characters unlikable and devious throughout the book? Some of them do come around, but it seems to make women generally seem either sneaky or annoying. Christianity vs Paganism — What amazed me the most about this was that many said they did not remember the opposing religious viewpoints from the book when they read it; that seemed to be the main point of the story.

Reading up on Bradley it sounds like she was a practicing Pagan, so it would make sense that she might want to bring this discussion in, but it seemed quite repetitive after a while.

Finally, I can say that my overall feelings about this book were skewed by what I found out about the life of the author when I was partway done with the book. Summary: Many will enjoy this book.

It is a big commitment. Some subject matter may be controversial and preachy - but, some really good storytelling. View all 46 comments.

Hmmm, I would like to see the mini series to this book. I felt it was a good book although it did get boring at times or maybe it was just me!

I loved reading about the history. The most I have ever known about Arthur and the gang was through my show, Merlin. Happy Reading! View all 42 comments. This is my favourite book about the Arthurian legend and I have read possibly more than I can remember. Marion Zimmer Bradley succeeded in breathing new life into the Arthurian saga, and at the same time, she didn't step too far away from the spirit of it.

Placing the emphasis on the fascinating female characters that shaped the fate of Arthur and of Camelot, she created a monumental work that is now the basis on which most of us rate the works about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Tabl This is my favourite book about the Arthurian legend and I have read possibly more than I can remember.

Placing the emphasis on the fascinating female characters that shaped the fate of Arthur and of Camelot, she created a monumental work that is now the basis on which most of us rate the works about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

Morgaine is our eyes and ears in The Mists of Avalon. It is through her perspective that we come to know Igraine, her mother, Gorlois, her father, Uther, Arthur, Gwenhwyfar, Morgause, Merlin, Vivianne, Lancelot, and all the other well-known figures of the Arthurian Tales. Is our perspective limited since we get to see the story mostly through her eyes?

In my opinion, no, because the writer has created Morgaine in such a way that she comes across as a reliable narrator. She is not a fanatic, but I can feel that she is a good judge of characters and I can relate to her. In stark contrast to her stands Gwenhwyfar, the only character in the book that can be described as a ''snooze-fest''.

With her obssessive views about religion, her lack of education, she is so irritating And of course, her actions are far away from what she names as ''Christian love'', and we all know that she is a hypocrite. The male characters are the ''heroes'' we have come to know from the Arthurian myths. Arthur is Arthur, clever and willing, but weak in judgment and in spirit. I never liked Lancelot much and in Marion Zimmer Bradley's version, he is even more unsympathetic.

Mordred's voice comes across strong and clear, voicing desperation and rage against the neglect of his parents and the manner he was begotten, asking for what he feels is his by right.

I must confess I've always sided with Mordred in every version of the myth I have come across. Two very interesting male characters besides Mordred are Accolon and Kevin the Bard. In my opinion, what makes this novel so powerful is its ending. It depicts completion, the way life comes full circle, and the fact that we may give different names to people and places and elements in our lives, but most of the times we all mean the same thing, fighting over thin air, really.

View all 17 comments. OK I admit, when I told my college Arthurian Lit professor that I'd read and enjoyed this book, he proceeded to give me a quick-before-the-next-class-comes-in lecture about how Marion Zimmer Bradley's "interpretation" skewed wildly from the genre. But I don't care. It's a difficult book long and utterly depressing, but it takes the first in-depth look at both women and the pagan Celtic religion of Britain, which Christianity usurped around that time. Evil sorceress Morgan Le Fay is transfered i OK I admit, when I told my college Arthurian Lit professor that I'd read and enjoyed this book, he proceeded to give me a quick-before-the-next-class-comes-in lecture about how Marion Zimmer Bradley's "interpretation" skewed wildly from the genre.

Evil sorceress Morgan Le Fay is transfered into multi-faceted Morgaine, a woman deeply committed to her family, especially her aunt, Viviane, half-brother, Arthur, and cousin, Lancelet. Gwenhyfar, the simpering Christian princess, was my least favorite, but even she had some complexity, an unhappy childhood, inferiority complex made worse by her bareness, and obvious jealousy-issues with Morgaine concerning the womens' relationships with Arthur and Lancelet.

Perhaps the most dour of Morgaine's familial ties is that with her son, Mordred, the illigitimate heir of her brother, whom she foolishly put up with her aunt Morgause, easily the most shallow and greedy woman in the entire book.

Religion-wise, I found it impossible not to root for Morgaine's Avalon, not only because I knew it was destined to recede into the mists, but because it was matriarchal, and so much more comforting to me than the expansionalist, narrow-minded and mysoginistic version of Christianity prevalent during those times. At the end, Morgaine herslf shows the most tolerance and versatility for diverse cultures- she outlives most everyone else, and grows to accept that her mother goddess is now worshipped as the virgin mary.

Quite the contrast from the crone-like Morgan Le Fay, whose only purpose is to destroy the kingdom of Camelot. View all 7 comments. The Arthur myth from the point of view of Morgaine le Fay, pagan priestess. Supposedly a feminist take on the old legends. There is one main problem with this approach: let's face it, women's lives in the dark ages were pretty boring.

And rather than break out of this mold with strong female characters, Bradley talks a lot about spinning, weaving, and having babies. The female characters are either contemptible or irritating, or both. The male characters are cardboard--Arthur is as heroic as a l The Arthur myth from the point of view of Morgaine le Fay, pagan priestess. The male characters are cardboard--Arthur is as heroic as a limp dishrag, Merlin just an old man sitting in his rocking chair.

The pagan-Christian thing is overwrought and shrill, devolving mostly into interminable theological debates between characters that cover the same ground over and over and over again.

A lot of things irritated me about this book, but nothing more than the simple lack of a compelling narrative construction. Nothing happens. There is dialogue, which mostly rehashes things that were already talked about.

And then there is monologue, in which the weak and mostly contemptible characters thrash around in their heads so much that it would make Dostoyevsky cringe. It makes me angry that you could even try to tell the Arthurian legend--even from a feminine point of view--without looking at the epic clashes between the knights of the round table and their enemies.

Horrendously disappointing. For a fantasy novel, George R. Martin's A Game of Thrones does everything that this book tries to do, and does it ten times better. For more of a historical view, Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom is a much more fun and interesting look at the clash of Christian and pagan civilizations, and even has characters that you don't hate.

View all 23 comments. My favorite fantasy novel written by a serial rapist and child-abuser. Now that I think about it, I'm interested to remember that the person who recommended it to me was also a big fan of Nietzsche. View all 76 comments. This is one of the few books that I hate. I read the whole thing hoping it would get better, and it didn't, though there are a few good bits.

Overall I found it offensive to the Arthurian legends, to history, and to women, and being a year-old girl who liked fantasy novels did nothing to change this opinion.

Sep 25, Paul rated it it was ok Shelves: novels , feminism , classics , fantasy. Wow, this is a truly epic retelling of the Arthurian legends — epic in length at pages, epic in scale at spanning three to four generations, and epic in its ambition to provide a feminist reinterpretation of a decidedly masculine mythology.

I wish I could say it was an epic success. Instead, Mists of Avalon meanders too much, treading the same ground again and again, almost as if the plot itself has gotten lost in the mists. Over and over, pagan and Christian characters debate the oneness of Wow, this is a truly epic retelling of the Arthurian legends — epic in length at pages, epic in scale at spanning three to four generations, and epic in its ambition to provide a feminist reinterpretation of a decidedly masculine mythology.

Over and over, female characters ponder the unfairness of life in a patriarchal society. Bradley rarely shows; instead, she tells. And tells. She tells in dialogue. She tells in internal monologue. She tells in narration. What keeps the book moving is Bradley's writing style, both formal enough to suit an Arthurian epic, but readable and engaging enough to pull the reader through endless paragraphs of court politics. She develops deep and intriguing characters who change as the years pass.

The book seems to be moving to a major resolution of the long-simmering conflict between paganism and Christianity. But the resolution happens almost despite itself. There's no real climax, at least none befitting a book of this length and scope. And finally, there are the questions of religion and sex — issues that come up because of the author, who was an outspoken pagan while also implicated in both her husband's ongoing sexual abuse of children and eventually accused by her own daughter of molestation.

Mists of Avalon simply can't avoid these facts. First, Bradley makes no effort to present a fair view of Christianity; even accepting that any work told from the perspective of Morgaine of the Fairies is not going to be pro-Christian and acknowledging that Christian practices in converting pagan tribes were often coercive if not violent, Bradley's portrayal is so lopsided as to be cartoonish.

The character of Gwenwhyfar seems created almost entirely to be the whipping boy for pagan tolerance over and against Christian prudery and narrow-mindedness. Regarding the allegations against Bradley, I feel deeply flawed humans can still create great art — even art that transcends the initial offenses of its creators to become a force for good within the world. Unfortunately, that's not the case here. In fact, Bradley's deeply troubling views of sex and consent taint this work, as she glorifies incest, promiscuity and rape as part of an idyllic faith free of Christian ignorance.

Certainly, I'm not asking for a book to uphold a conservative Christian view of sex, where all of the characters improbably wait until they are married and never cheat on their spouses. But for a book to be truly feminist in orientation, it seems it should advocate at least a little for the agency of its women, rather than forcing the characters to portray their own subjugation into sexual relationships with family members and older men as somehow liberating.

Most disturbing, the one unequivocally negative portrayal of a sexual conquest view spoiler [— the rape of Gwenwhyfar — hide spoiler ] smacks more than a little of "she had it coming. But overall, Bradley seems enslaved to patriarchal notions of sexuality more than rising above them. In the end, I appreciate the effort, but even as I write this review, I've talked myself down from three stars to two.

It was just OK, and it could have been so much more. I enjoyed aspects of the book, and I never seriously entertained stopping it, but by the end I was seriously disappointed. Maybe even epically. View all 9 comments. Nov 25, Tiffany Miss. Before any review, i need to put down some words. I can't understand how MZB, who wrote such powerful lines and characters, that made me feel so understood, that represented repression and gender inequality with such a beautiful, compelling and empowering novel, could have also been the abuser of her daughter.

I can't understand but i am so angry and this is never something to forgive just because her work spoke to me so much. She is unforgivable to my eyes and my heart, it made me vomit as soon Before any review, i need to put down some words.

She is unforgivable to my eyes and my heart, it made me vomit as soon as i found out about her daughter, so this is why i won't read more in this series and of her work but i'll review this book detached from my personal opinions of the author. I hope you'll understand. Would i recommend it?

It's up to you. XXX I loved this book, so fucking deeply. It took me 3 weeks to read it but i couldn't put it down. I couldn't express a more striking and effective metaphor of woman condition and on how religion has repressed and effected our society better than what MZB has done.

If you're a fervent religious person, you'll probably hate it. It follows the story of the women of Avalon, a land where the old Goddes is celebrated. Those women were seen as witches and the villains of the story, just because they didn't turn into christians and because they couldn't accept their predetermined roles as wives and mothers. They were so much more. The decline of the pagan religion is symbolized quite literally, through their holy Isle of Avalon.

There was a time when any man or woman could find the Island, but as more and more converts abandon the old ways, Avalon fades more into the mists. So we witness the battle to make the old gods survive against the Christian repression.

But it's not just that. This is a story of men and women and their flaws and search for doing the right thing whatever that means and human nature. The moral grey area of this book is very wide. I liked the fact that what for our society is considered abomination wasn't seen as such for who's not coming from a christian background. And the strongest key point of this book is exactly that, showing as many perspective as possible, all valid.

It was a real, deep understanding of moral ambiguity and of the fluid nature of truth. Bradley creates women who are strong-willed, born into a tradition of matriarchal hierarchies and yet, they face a society that has fought them and locked them to traditional roles. She re-envisions Arthurian legend through the eyes of its women, but this only explain a fraction of what this book is about. It also questions our assumptions about the natures of the characters involved, and ultimately about the nature of the story itself.

Morgaine is one of my favorite character ever, she was such a complex and determined person. We feel her pain, her struggles but we can also find solace in her strength and in her voice. I loved her because we can see vulnerability and empowerment, strength and weakness. She's not just black or white, like any woman. I couldn't understand both Arthur and Lancelot, and it made me wonder that sometimes the will of looking to the story from a female point of view erased or flattened the male perspective.

Just like the old story did with these ladies. So, this is a very dark tale that maybe you won't always understand nor like but it's addictive because it reflects the horrors and the struggles of women condition and on how christianity has impacted our societies.

A feast for us atheists, a banquet for feminists and a fantasy book that really makes me wonder why, in , we still struggle with bad female characterization and stereotyped heroines. Oh Goddess, come and do what you will!

Truth has many faces and the truth is like to the old road to Avalon; it depends on your own will, and your own thoughts, whither the road will take you. Those who know me just one tiny bit also know that The Lord of the Rings is my favourite book ever.

Go a little bit deeper, and you also know that Frank Herbert's Dune is high up on my "There is no such thing as a true tale. Go a little bit deeper, and you also know that Frank Herbert's Dune is high up on my list of all-time favourites.

The point is that those two books were the first real fantasy books using the term loosely here I read in my life. The three books that made me love fantasy in the first place and go to explore other worlds and the magic between the pages of masterpieces.

I've already confessed my undying love for LotR and Dune. Like I already wrote about in slightly more detail in my review of Darkover Landfall , Marion Zimmer Bradley is, despite it all, one of my favourite authors. This book is what introduced me to her works. But as I write these words, I realise one sad fact about this wonderful story. I remember nothing of it. Not one bit. Unlike the other two books mentioned in the beginning, I have never read this one again after the first time.

And now I'm scared to actually do it. Because I don't want to sully childhood memories with the harshness of reality. The only thing I do remember is that I absolutely loved it. And still do, passionately so. And that's the important part, right? So, depending on whether or not I eventually read this again, and depending on whether or not I have more thoughts to think and more words to write, maybe there will be a full review about the loveliest work of Arthurian fiction at some point.

I didn't like this novel before -- too much misandry, revisionism, contempt for the Arthurian mythos, creepy sexual content, etc. But knowing such information about the author -- who she REALLY was and what she did and what she thought -- explains a lot about certain themes, scenes, etc. View all 11 comments. Well, there I go again - sniffling and crying through the last 10 pages over a bunch of fictional characters that I feel I know better then some real people.

If ever there was a book to make me believe in the power of magic, then Bradley cast her spell over me when she penned this book.

What a sap I am, and what a sap I'll be again the next time I read this View all 18 comments. Aug 21, J. Though I am wont to blame the inescapability of genetics for various aspects of an Epicurean reading of Absurdism, I tend to pause, for some reason, in ascribing gender differences as stringently. It's difficult to say if this is simply a bias of wishful egalitarian thinking or truly an outgrowth of my understanding, for precisely the reasons that Epicureus is worthy to interrupt my many Suicides.

So, when I say that women seem more than men to be capable of breaking the Tolkien Curse laid so th Though I am wont to blame the inescapability of genetics for various aspects of an Epicurean reading of Absurdism, I tend to pause, for some reason, in ascribing gender differences as stringently. So, when I say that women seem more than men to be capable of breaking the Tolkien Curse laid so thickly upon Modern Fantasy barely proper , it is with trepidation.

Flatly blaming rude and wretched socialization always seems easier; despite our inability to understand any First Cause.

Original Sin infects us all. There is certainly something bound in the flesh which drives a breed of dwarfish, ill-socialized, fetish-loving escapists to blindly build and habitate an unoriginal world; and for a further gaggle of the nearly less-talented to consume it ravenously. It seems that, in the spirit of contrariness, when women find themselves thrust by love of horses or exceedingly lax tonsorial concerns into the same arena, that they fight a different fight.

Perhaps they approach the incline from a different vantage; arriving not by way of a Tolkien to b Conan to c some unspeakable modern half-wit, but by Malory, McKinley, and Spenser.

Of course, one must not forget that the vein of Fantasy still runs, at least in part, through Austen; and that though those alloys be rarer, still inhabit the edges. Bradley has certainly taken a different tack on her way to the summit never tor of fantasy. She evokes Spenser, the Idylls, and all manner of other ridiculous romanticics of the Arthurian Mythos. She also endeavors to pull the characters out of the romantic and toward post-modern psychological conflict.

On occasion, she even succeeds. There is an undeniable depth to the books, accompanied by a rather pleasing graying at the temples of morality which immediately places her at the opposite pole from her male contemporaries. That those poles are really not so far away somewhat lessens the impact, and one is eventually bound to recognize that there really is a reverse pole to the whole of our concept of fantasy marked somewhere in Peake's Titus trilogy.

Actually, that's not true. One could very easily read a fantasy novel a week for life and never have to realize that Bradley is really only a little bit out there; but certainly enough to feel like a breath of the fresher.

My Fantasy Book Suggestions View all 41 comments. Not that the blurb gives away much of this book and not that I was even remotely interested in it, but a review came up on my feed of someone blacklisting this book. Curious, I clicked the links to work out why. To summarise though, this author supports her husband who was a known pedophile. The above link shows her daughter saying the author herself molested her the daughter.

So, to all my friends who want to Not that the blurb gives away much of this book and not that I was even remotely interested in it, but a review came up on my feed of someone blacklisting this book.

So, to all my friends who want to read this or any of the author's other books, I would strongly suggest not to support a monster. If anyone has anyone more information on this or if I am wrong on any counts, please let me know. I am just absolutely horrified by what I have read and felt I should share.

View all 15 comments. An excellent Arthurian saga. Written from the point of view of Morgaine, Arthur's half-sister and the villian of traditional Arthur tales. Unique in perspective with strong female characters. It is a story of love; and quite different from any Arthur novel you'll ever read. Marion Zimmer Bradley's best work.

She paints a vivid picture, rich with depth of characters and relationships. One of my favorites, I can read this over and over again. View 2 comments. This is kind of a feminist version of the Arthurian legend I say "kind of" for a reason; Nenia's review offers several reasons why it's arguably quasi-feminism at best.

It's well-written but I got bored, and it was long-winded, and I simply didn't care about any of the characters. I didn't find any of them particularly likeable or sympathetic. I skimmed most of the second half. Former 4 star review. Just read an article from the author's daughter regarding the abuse she experienced from her abusive, apologist enabler mother and her pedophile father that calls into question the actions and relationships the occur in the book.

This is a feminist work. I saw a few one-star reviews from dudes AND ladies of this saying that the women were boring or slutty or whatever coded misogyny nonsense, but let me get something off my chest: do not confuse "having strong female characters" with "female badass fetishization" because this book absolutely has the former.

The women were strong and they were complex and each one of them had this beautifully woven narrative. Spinning, weaving, childbirth, mother This is a feminist work. Spinning, weaving, childbirth, motherhood, sex, periods, heartbreaks, first uncomfortable pangs of romance- these are all honest and authentic experiences of these women.

The characters navigated their world, insular as it may have been, in a manner accommodating the men who ran it. Behind the scenes and pulling strings, that's what these women were doing. Standing close to the spotlight and never stepping in it. I thought there was a beautiful symmetry in this book- once I got to the end and all the scattered pieces started to come together again because yo, not gonna lie, this book will wander far and wide from the original starting point , it felt like this bellowing crescendo to me.

Hallowed moments of tender mercies and divine revelations finally knit back together and shaped this incredible feminist narrative of women and God. Here's a backstory: I have a "Valar Morghulis" tattoo. I love asoiaf unconditionally and forgive GRRM being unable to write women's anatomy. He writes women like they were men, and I appreciate the complexity this offers women roles. While I was reading Mists of Avalon I thought of Gregory Macguire's Wicked novels and how Elphaba, like Morgaine, eventually wanders into moral grey areas and makes mistakes.

Elphaba hardens, she resigns herself to wickedness and coldness and keeps her vulnerability hidden. Addendum to backstory: I'm not religious in the slightest.

But now I know what a complex woman in a fantasy setting looks like when written by a woman and I am never going back. Reading female characters who show strength as well as vulnerability? Fortitude and weakness? How refreshing is this, reading women who aren't written as men or earn have to earn their "girl power" mantle by wielding swords and acting like men? I have never had a particularly favorable attitude towards Christianity and have kept a respectful and silent distance, but the end of this book brought about a new affection for how beautiful spirituality can be because of how it affected each of these women in different ways.

I was deeply moved by this book. View all 3 comments. Shelves: fiction. Have you ever found yourself reading a book, knowing you're reading crap, but the writing style and the occasional promising plot twist kept you going? Maybe I was fooled by Hallmark's production, Merlin, and I expected Morgaine to have a backbone to call her own. Zimmer Bradley took whatever hope I had of finding yet another female character to favore and crushed them; Morgaine is obsessed with who everyone marries and who gives birth to who as badly as the simple 'foolish' women she describes c Have you ever found yourself reading a book, knowing you're reading crap, but the writing style and the occasional promising plot twist kept you going?

Zimmer Bradley took whatever hope I had of finding yet another female character to favore and crushed them; Morgaine is obsessed with who everyone marries and who gives birth to who as badly as the simple 'foolish' women she describes contemptly.

The constant religious conversations were getting boring by the nine-hundredth time they were run and Zimmer Bradley's constant obsession wit not taking sides or making too many snapping comments of christianity were annoying. Bradley gives no one a truely happy ending nor a revenge to any of the 'bad' characters and so leaves the reader with a sense of bitter dissappointment. Sure, it was nice to read about the very early days of post-Roman england, but for god's sake; I could have picked up a history book and not this waste of time, energy and paper.

Shelves: fiction , 20th-century-postwar-to-late , owned , fantasy-and-scifi , grand-opera. I read this book when I was in my mid-teens, and in the midst of an Arthurian obsession phase. These are mythical characters that have been written on so many times and by legendary figures who are almost myths themselves.

It's a really hard subject to tackle without derision. I do think she filled a niche in what could otherwise be a very chauvinistic, idealized genre. I haven't read this recently, so I don't know if I would still connect to it as much as I did when I read it all those years ag I read this book when I was in my mid-teens, and in the midst of an Arthurian obsession phase.

I haven't read this recently, so I don't know if I would still connect to it as much as I did when I read it all those years ago. It teaches something about never taking a story for granted, and the fact that there's a side even to the purportedly evil people that can be more sympathetic than we realize.

It's like "Wicked" in that way, only less cliched. Plus, this one was first! Books in Spanish. The Mists of Avalon. By author Marion Zimmer Bradley. Free delivery worldwide. Expected delivery to Germany in business days. Not ordering to Germany? Click here. Order now for expected delivery to Germany by Christmas. Description Here is the tragic tale of the rise and fall of Camelot - but seen through the eyes of Camelot's women: The devout Gwenhwyfar, Arthur's Queen; Vivane, High priestess of Avalon and the Lady of the Lake; above all, Morgaine, possessor of the sight, the wise, the wise-woman fated to bring ruin on them all Other books in this series.

Add to basket. Lady of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley. Priestess of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley. Avalon Mindee Arnett. Polaris Mindee Arnett. La bruja del mar I Henning, Sarah. Killian Elizabeth Kelly. Destined to Fly Indigo Bloome.

Surely, after T. Nonetheless, she knew that I had specialized in medieval literature in graduate school, and when she came to me for resources, I was glad to give what help I could. Not that she needed much, for she had been steeped in the Arthurian tradition since childhood. I read the first chapters of what became The Mists of Avalon with a mounting excitement, for Marion had, indeed, found a new approach to the legend, one with particular relevance to the culture of the day.

The spirituality of Avalon derives from the British Mystery tradition, especially as it was interpreted by the occult writer Dion Fortune, whose character, Miss LeFay Morgan, is both a progenitor and descendant of Morgaine.

For a time, Dion Fortune lived in Glastonbury, home of the Glastonbury Tor and still a sacred center of pilgrimage for many. Although Marion traveled to the British Isles several times to visit Arthurian sites and do research, she realized early on that in order to be true to her vision she would have to abandon history, and instead, tell the truth of legend.

The brilliant device of placing Avalon halfway between our world and Faerie allowed her to adorn it with structures and a society unknown to archaeology. The Arthurian legend holds a unique place in the literature of the English language and seems to be capable of infinite reinterpretations.

My own version, Hallowed Isle, is more faithful to history, but The Mists of Avalon casts a long shadow, which I avoided only by placing my priestesses in the Lake Country in the north of England! For years after Mists was published, women continued to come to Darkmoon Circle looking for the College of Priestesses on Avalon. They were not misled, for the quality of interaction among the women, as well as much of the spirituality, reflects the atmosphere in the circle.

It was a time of great excitement, as we realized that it was possible to create a religious practice that would meet our needs, and that the Goddess, far from being confined to ancient mythology, was alive, well, and eager to communicate.

What Marion was describing in the new book—which she had originally wanted to call Mistress of Magic—was what we were experiencing every time we came together.

But no one expected what happened when The Mists of Avalon was published. Some of its success was no doubt due to the editorial and promotional genius of Judy Lynn Benjamin Del Rey, who got the book reviewed in the New York Times. People bought and read and loved it, then bought copies for their friends. Suddenly Marion found herself world-famous. This was not what she had expected, especially when people began to phone her in the middle of the night wanting spiritual counsel.

Morgaine herself could not have fulfilled all the expectations being laid upon the author of The Mists of Avalon. Marion continued to write, but she began to withdraw from public life. Her health was also beginning to fail. To the heart trouble from which she had suffered for many years was added diabetes, and then a series of strokes. She managed to complete the first draft of The Forest House , a story based on the opera Norma that she had wanted to tell for many years, but it showed the effects of her illness, and she asked me to help her revise it.

As I discussed the book with Marion, I came to understand the place of the Avalon mythos in her work much more clearly. Not only were the characters in Forest House ancestral to the later people of Avalon, but Marion considered several of them to be reincarnations of the major characters in her early occult novel, which was eventually published as The Fall of Atlantis.

That suggested a further development of the mythos, and we proposed a new project, Lady of Avalon , which takes the characters through three incarnations; the first section being a continuation of the story line in The Forest House , while the third tells of the youth of Viviane and helps explain how she got that way.

Our last collaboration, Priestess of Avalon , surrounds the middle section of the previous book with the story of Helena the mother of Constantine.