Child of the Holy Grail

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The Child of the Holy Grail - concluding the legend of Guenevere, a woman whose story has never been told, until now …

In the heart of Camelot, Guenevere and Arthur are High Queen and King of a land at peace, preparing to celebrate the knighthood of Arthur's son, Mordred.

The handsome youth promises to be a worthy addition to the Round Table, and Guenevere has long ago forgiven Arthur for the adultery that brought him into the world.

But darker currents are at work as Guenevere pines for her lover, Sir Lancelot, and anguishes over the loss of the Sacred Hallows of the Goddess years ago.
And deep in his underground cave, Merlin hears of a new threat to Arthur's peace.

The long-lost Holy Grail has come to light, together with a mysterious child who must find it to fulfil his destiny.

Arthur has determined that Mordred, his son by Morgan Le Fay, is the only true inheritor of the Grail destiny and the Siege Perilous - the one unoccupied seat at the Round Table, designated for 'the Most Peerless Knight in all the World'. At the knighting, the great Round Table of Camelot, owned by the Queens of the Summer Country since time immemorial, cracks down the center.

A terrible darkness descends on Camelot and in the midst of the chaos appears a new knight, Sir Galahad, barely fourteen, who may hold the key to the mystery of the stolen Hallows, which the Christians believe to be the Holy Grail.

Other echoes of the past are stirring too. Ancient blood feuds reawaken, and Guenevere and Lancelot are both vulnerable to the malice of those who hate Camelot and its golden dream. When all the knights of the Round Table depart on the Quest for the Grail, Morgan Le Fay broods on her lifelong revenge and knows her time has come.

As the shadows darken around Arthur and his band of knights, Guenevere counts on the love of her own knight, Sir Lancelot of the Lake. But when Lancelot is trapped into betraying her at the moment when Guenevere's enemies are strong enough to strike, Guenevere faces the worst challenge of her life …

So unfolds the final dazzling cycle of the Arthurian legend - the quest for the Grail and the fall of Camelot - which brings Guenevere to the brink of the most dreaded tragedy of all, and may ultimately complete her destiny as the greatest and most powerful Queen of the Isles.

Reviews

'Camelot lives forever in our memories and in the new historical novel by Rosalind Miles, the third in a popular series that began with The Queen of the Summer Country and The Knight of the Sacred Lake. Told from Guenevere's perspective, The Child of the Holy Grail concludes the trilogy by chronicling the last fateful years of the House of Pendragon and the end of the mystical Avalon.

A number of books have told this ageless story of chivalry, sorcery, love and regret, and it would be easy to rehash the tale in pedantic fashion. Writing a thoroughly engrossing and engaging story, Miles avoids such a retelling, providing us with a fresh look at the tale, bringing the story and its characters to life.

Queen Guenevere, the last in a long line of female rulers, is increasingly at odds with the Christian Church. Even with the adoration and support of her subjects, she must struggle against the changing tide as Christianity's influence grows in Britain. Considered nothing more that Arthur's concubine and a witch by the church, Guenevere fears the church's power as it spreads through Arthur's court. Working to save her fragile reconciliation with the King and his waning trust in her, Guenevere must also protect Avalon, the sacred island the church so desperately wants to destroy.

Seamlessly weaving together many tales of King Arthur and the Round Table, Miles allows us to see Camelot unravelling through Guenevere's eyes. We see her visions when Arthur's son Mordred is accepted in the "Siege Perilous" filling the one empty seat at the Round Table reserved for the son of the most peerless knight in the realm.

We grow as agitated as Guenevere herself at Arthur's blind trust in the monks' advice and sense her fear of impending doom for the fellowship of the Round Table, of Camelot and of those she loves.

When Arthur and his son meet on that fateful day on the battlefield of the Great Plain, we anguish over the senselessness of the fight but ultimately see that Camelot is no more. Then, like Guenevere, we mourn the end of an era.
In The Child of the Holy Grail everything old is new again and the prophecy that Arthur only sleeps until he comes again is brought to fruition.'

BookPage, Nashville, TN