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ISOLDE: Queen of the Western
Isle
In the golden time
of Arthur and Guenevere, the Island of the West shines like an
emerald in the sea - one of the last strongholds of Goddess
worship and Mother-right.
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Reviews
'An ornate
tapestry of pride, mysticism and love ... a must-read for fans' -
Publisher's Weekly
Scholar-historian
Miles, author of the popular Guenevere trilogy, returns to the
Arthurian-era British Isles to weave an ornate tapestry of pride,
mysticism and love. This first book of Miles's new Tristan and
Isolde trilogy is a fantastical riff on the classic account of the
passionate, star-crossed lovers.
The
young Isolde is the beautiful Princess of Ireland, the Western
Isle. Blessed with the gift of healing, she is also cursed with a
wildly passionate mother, the Queen, ruled by her desire for men
rather than concern for her people. While the Queen is more
caricature than character, the feminist Miles presents a fully
realised woman in Isolde, sensual, spirited, tormented and
impassioned.
Tristan
is nearly as well crafted, first appearing to Isolde as a
nameless, wounded pilgrim whom she must nurse back to health, then
revealing himself as a glorious young prince. The story line
follows the traditional tale, wherein Isolde is betrothed to
Tristan's uncle King Mark, here a bumbling, effete antihero.
Rounding out the cast are characters from Arthurian legend : an
aging, wise Merlin; the dashing Arthur; his beloved Guenevere,
Isolde's friend and former schoolmate.
Miles's
fantasy-reading audience will welcome her richly-worded return to
old England. Forecast: The substantial overlap of this new trilogy
with the Guenevere series will make this a must-read for fans, and
Miles's large readership should continue to grow as she fine-tunes
her full-blooded approach to mythological story-telling
- Publisher's Weekly
Miles, author of the best-selling Guenevere
trilogy, breathes new life into another fascinating medieval
legend. In the first installment of the Isolde trilogy, Isolde, a
princess of Ireland and a famous healer, nurses a wounded Tristan
back to health after the young knight is wounded in battle. Though
their two countries are at odds, Tristan and Isolde fall deeply in
love. When Tristan's uncle, the King of Cornwall, and Isolde's
mother, the Queen of the Western Isle, arrange a political match
between King Mark and Isolde, a disconsolate Tristan is ordered to
accompany Isolde to Cornwall to to meet and marry the King.
During
the course of the voyage, the ill-fated lovers mistakenly drink a
potion that binds them together for all eternity, Jam-packed with
intrigue, treachery and romance, this spin-off of the Arthurian
saga will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next installment
- Booklist
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Isolde is the only
daughter and heiress of Ireland's great ruling queen, a lady as
passionate in battle as she is in love. La Belle Isolde, like
her mother, is famed for her beauty, but she is a healer instead
of a warrior, "of all surgeons, the best among the
isles". A natural peace-maker, Isolde is struggling to save
Ireland from a war waged by her dangerously reckless mother. The
Queen is influenced by her lover, Sir Marhaus, who urges her to
invade neighbouring Cornwall and claim it for her own, a
foolhardy move Isolde is determined to prevent.
But she is unable
to stop them. King Mark of Cornwall sends forth his own champion
to do battle with the Irish - Sir Tristan of Lyonesse - a young,
untested knight with a mysterious past. A member of the Round
Table, Tristan has returned to the land of his birth after many
years in exile, only to face Ireland's fiercest champion in
combat. When he lies victorious but near death on the field of
battle, Tristan knows that his only hope of survival lies in the
West.
He must be taken to
Ireland to be healed, but he must go in disguise - for if the
Queen finds out who killed her beloved, he will follow Marhaus
into the spirit world. Merlin smuggles him into the Queen's fort
at Dubh Lein and begs Isolde to save him.
From this first meeting of the star-crossed lovers, an epic
story unfolds. Isolde's skill and beauty impress Tristan's
uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, and - knowing nothing of her love
for Tristan - he decides to make her his queen, a match her
mother encourages as a way to bind the two kingdoms together
under one rule.
Tristan and Isolde
find themselves caught in the crosscurrents of fate, as Isolde
is forced to marry a man she does not love. Taking pity on her
daughter, the Queen gives her an elixir that will create in her
a passion for King Mark and ensure that their love will last
until death. But on the voyage to Ireland, Tristan and Isolde
drink the love potion by accident, sealing forever their already
perilous love.
So begins the first book of the Tristan and Isolde trilogy,
another stunning example of the story teller's craft from
Rosalind Miles, author of the beloved and best-selling Guenevere
trilogy.
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