I hoovered up fairytales when I was small, and when I learned to read on my own, I moved on to myths: British, Norse, Greek, Celtic... the Mabinogion, Edda, Ragnarok, Gilgamesh, Beowulf, you name it, I devoured it. From there it was a short hop for a voracious reader to fantasy fiction based on myths and when I began to write, that became a theme in my fiction. My first couple of books were influenced by Susan Cooper’s writing, andThe Keepers’ Daughterdraws on the Atlantis legend. Myths last for a reason: they may not be real, but at some level, they’re true....
I’ve been interested in Greek myths since I was tiny, and in Greece since my first holiday there. (I go back almost every year and try to speak Greek to the locals) Mary Renault brings the legend of the Minotaur to life and turns the legendary characters into very real people, with very human flaws. I first read this book long before I visited Crete and when I eventually got to the ruins of Knossos it all unspooled in my head like a private movie. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read The King Must Die now – I've even had to buy a new copy, because I’ve worn the first one out.
Theseus is the grandson of the King of Troizen, but his paternity is shrouded in mystery - can he really be the son of the god Poseidon? When he discovers his father's sword beneath a rock, his mother must reveal his true identity: Theseus is the son of Aegeus, King of Athens, and is his only heir. So begins Theseus's perilous journey to his father's palace to claim his birth right, escaping bandits and ritual king sacrifice in Eleusis, to slaying the Minotaur in Crete. Renault reimagines the Theseus myth, creating an original, exciting story.
I fell in love with this book, which weaves together all sorts of British legends and bits of history, when I was a child. Although it’s nominally a children’s book, I still re-read it every couple of years – it's a perfect book to read round about Christmas, full of snow and magic. It’s also been a huge influence on my own writing, so I’ve got a particularly soft spot for it. It’s part of a sequence of five books – all very good – which follow the eternal battle between good and evil, bringing in Celtic, Norse, and Arthurian legends. It’s a cracker – just don’t watch the awful film version!
On the Midwinter Day that is his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers a special gift-- that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to keeping the world from domination by the forces of evil, the Dark. At once, he is plunged into a quest for the six magical Signs that will one day aid the Old Ones in the final battle between the Dark and the Light. And for the twelve days of Christmas, while the Dark is rising, life for Will is full of wonder, terror, and delight.
I’ve been a sucker for Arthurian legends since I saw the movie The Sword in the Stone(loosely based on the first few chapters of this book)when I was 5. OK - so now you know what age I am! I’m convinced there must be a kernel of truth at the heart of all the legends and I’ve read a lot of Arthurian fiction. This is the best – at least to my mind. It’s thrilling, funny, clever, and heartbreaking. (I still can’t read the last chapter without snivelling.) Maybe this is how it really was....
Voyager Classics - timeless masterworks of science fiction and fantasy.
A beautiful clothbound edition of The Once and Future King, White's masterful retelling of the Arthurian legend.
T.H. White's masterful retelling of the Arthurian legend is an abiding classic. Here all five volumes that make up the story are published together in a single volume, as White himself always wished.
Here is King Arthur and his shining Camelot, beasts who talk and men who fly; knights, wizardry and war. It is the book of all things lost and wonderful and sad; the masterpiece of fantasy by which all others are…
Back to those Greek legends.... Who could resist all those tales of the Trojan War? Helen and Paris, Hector and Achilles, Odysseus and Cassandra. So much literature, drama, opera (and a really tacky fake wooden horse at the entrance to the excavations at Troy) has sprung from them. The violence of the long siege, the involvement of the Gods, the love story of Achilles and Patroclus, are all brilliantly realised here. "Sexy, dangerous, mystical," says historian Bettany Hughes, which sums this book up rather well.
**OVER 1.5 MILLION COPIES SOLD** **A 10th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION, FEATURING A NEW FOREWORD BY THE AUTHOR**
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'Captivating' DONNA TARTT 'I loved it' J K ROWLING 'Ravishingly vivid' EMMA DONOGHUE
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms…
Catherine Fisher uses myths brilliantly in all her books, but best of all in the trilogy of which The Oracle is the first volume. It’s a wonderful mash-up of Egyptian and Greek legends with characters you will grow to care about more and more with every page. Junior priestess Mirany begins to doubt the existence of the God she serves. The land where she lives is dying of drought, but the God doesn’t seem to listen to his people anymore, and a struggle for power that could destroy them all is about to take place.
In the distant land of deserts and islands, the servants of the god rule the land, his wishes conveyed through the Oracle and interpreted by the High Priestess. Mirany is the new Bearer, afraid of her perilous duties for the god in the rituals of the Oracle, and fearful of her secret questioning ... Does the god truly exist?
The priestess is corrupt and in secret partnership with the General, ruler, since the God-on-Earth, the Archon, has no real power - chosen as a child, his face always masked, never seen by outsiders. Should any national tragedy occur, he is…
Orphaned as a baby, Nyssa has no idea where she comes from or who she really is, but she is haunted by dreams of someone else’s life. The arrival of threatening strangers on the quiet island where she lives brings danger, even as it reveals hints of her lost past.
Nyssa has a hidden tattoo that carries half of a secret message. Now she must journey to the drowned city of Thira to find the other half, written on the twin she’s never known, and discover the truth behind the words that mark them.
My book is fantastical historical fiction about two characters who're wrestling with the monstrosity of their grief.
It takes you into London high society, where Ambrose tries to forget about how much he misses Bennett and how much he dreads becoming as cold as their Grandfather. It takes you to the family's country manor house, where Mattie isolates and old ghosts start to come out of the woodwork.
It's a story about loss and depression; it's a story about friends who don't let you walk through the valley of death alone.
Ambrose Bancroft returns to London society with his younger sister, hoping they'll leave ghosts of memory behind. They have only each other left. While Ambrose attempts to draw Mattie out, dragging her to balls and threatening to seek suitors for her, his sister recoils from his meddling. Finally, when Ambrose compels her to attend art class before she's ready, Mattie paints something horrific enough to banish them from society in public disgrace.
At Linwood Manor, Mattie and Ambrose aren't as alone as they think. Taking advantage of Mattie's desperate need to find freedom, a vanishing room lures Ambrose's sister into…
