The Forest House (Avalon Series #2)

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Overview

The Forest House—prequel to The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s beloved and enduring classic—is a mesmerizing epic of one woman’s mythic role at a turning point in history.

In a Britain struggling to survive Roman invasion, Eilan is the daughter of a Druidic warleader, gifted with visions and marked by fate to become a priestess of the Forest House.

But fate also led Eilan to Gaius, a soldier of mixed blood, son of the Romans sent to subdue the native British. For Gaius, Eilan felt forbidden love, and her terrible secret will haunt her even as she is anointed as the new High Priestess. With mighty enemies poised to destroy the magic the Forest House shelters, Eilan must trust in the power of the great Goddess to lead her through the treacherous labyrinth of her destiny.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451454249
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/28/1995
Series:	Avalon Series , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	41,926
Product dimensions:	5.97(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rosalyn Landor has worked as an actress since the age of seven, both in Europe and the United States. She is an Audie Award nominee and winner, and she has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards. Rosalyn has also been chosen by AudioFile magazine as a Best Voice of 2009 and 2010.

Date of Birth:

June 30, 1930

Date of Death:

September 25, 1999

Place of Birth:

Albany, New York

Place of Death:

Berkeley, California

Education:

B.A., Hardin-Simmons College, 1964; additional study at University of California, Berkeley, 1965-1967

Table of Contents

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"With the sure touch of one at ease in sketching out mystic travels..., Bradley writes with an unhurried pace and uncluttered staging." —-Kirkus Starred Review

Editorial Reviews

The forbidden love of a druid priestess and a Roman soldier mirrors the clash of cultures in Roman Britain in the latest novel by the author of The Mists of Avalon (Ballantine, 1985). The novel evokes an age when three major religions maintained an uneasy coexistence on the island of Britain. Eilan, a daughter of goddess-worshiping druids, and Gaius Marcellius, a half-British Roman, live for the coming of a legendary future king to unite the warring islanders. Bradley envisions the "old religion'' as a refreshing blend of classic and revisionist concepts, adding a distinct flavor to her seamless weave of history and myth. Most libraries will want this for their fantasy collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/93.

Library Journal

YA-The setting of this historical/fantasy novel is Roman Briton. Eilan, a Druid girl who has been raised in the cult of the Goddess with the priestesses wielding the power, has fallen in love with a young Roman named Gaius. He is a half-Briton whose mother was of the Druid tribes and whose father is a powerful officer in the Roman legions. The clash between these two cultures and the eventual hope of unification through Eilan and Gaius's son is one of the book's many story lines. Bradley does a masterful job of creating the flavor of the period and the two diverse cultures, as well as strong female characters. With its elements of love story, intense emotions, and mysticism, Forest House will appeal to YAs.-Susan B. McFaden, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

School Library Journal

"With the sure touch of one at ease in sketching out mystic travels..., Bradley writes with an unhurried pace and uncluttered staging." —-Kirkus Starred Review

From the Publisher