3.9
The Forest House
Before the Mists obscured the Isle of Avalon, there was the Forest House; where, in a remote part of Britain, a secret circle of Druidic priestesses guarded the ancient rites of learning, healing, and prophecy against the inexorable approach of the Roman Empire. Young Eilan, born to a Druidic family, is ripening toward womanhood and the flowering of an inner power she hardly dares dream of. Already she hears the call of the Great Goddess - and it will be she who is ceremonially chosen as the new High Priestess when the reigning Priestess of the Oracle dies. But first, Eilan hears another voice - that of her love for the young Roman Gaius Macellius, whose mission is to subdue her native land and all its seemingly pagan ways. But Eilan must find the courage to renounce her lover for her sacred destiny... For within the Forest House's realm also dwell the bitter priestess Dieda, who, against her will, makes a pact that will bind her to Eilan forever; and the rebellious young priestess Caillean, who protects Eilan with a passion that runs far deeper than duty. Yet it is the Arch-Druid Ardanos, by turns the High Priestess's greatest ally and most ruthless enemy, who could destroy the Forest House, should he learn the terrible secret Eilan guards as fiercely as her life. The war that rages within Eilan mirrors the turbulence of her times; as the legions of Rome move closer, Eilan must rely on the power and magic of the Great Goddess to find her way out of the labyrinth in which fate has placed her... Like her classic bestseller The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley's new novel is a tapestry of myth, mystery, and romance, rich in the detail of the Druids' timeless rituals. The ForestHouse is a mesmerizing epic of a woman's mythic role at a turning point in history - brought to magnificent, unforgettable life.
FictionFantasyEpicHistoricalJuvenile FictionFantasy & Magic
RELEASED1995
PUBLISHERTurtleback
LENGTH432
LANGUAGEEN
Marion Zimmer was born on a farm in Albany, New York, during the Great Depression. As a child, she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy stories. She began writing them herself in 1949 and sold her first story to Vortex in 1952. She also married Robert Alden Bradley in 1949. Early in her career, she used pseudonyms for stories she wrote outside the speculative fiction genre, including some gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels such as I Am a Lesbian (1962). In 1964 she divorced her first husband and married numismatist Walter H. Breen. In 1965 she received her B.A. degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. She then moved to Berkeley, California, to pursue graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1966, she co-founded the Society for Creative Anachronism. In 1967 she moved to Staten Island, New York. She separated from her second husband in 1979 but remained married and continued a business relationship, until 1990 when he was arrested on child molestation charges and they divorced. After suffering declining health for years, she died in Berkeley in 1999. In 2000, she was awarded the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement.
3.9
The Forest House
by Marion Zimmer Bradley, M. Bradley
Before the Mists obscured the Isle of Avalon, there was the Forest House; where, in a remote part of Britain, a secret circle of Druidic priestesses guarded the ancient rites of learning, healing, and prophecy against the inexorable approach of the Roman Empire. Young Eilan, born to a Druidic family, is ripening toward womanhood and the flowering of an inner power she hardly dares dream of. Already she hears the call of the Great Goddess - and it will be she who is ceremonially chosen as the new High Priestess when the reigning Priestess of the Oracle dies. But first, Eilan hears another voice - that of her love for the young Roman Gaius Macellius, whose mission is to subdue her native land and all its seemingly pagan ways. But Eilan must find the courage to renounce her lover for her sacred destiny... For within the Forest House's realm also dwell the bitter priestess Dieda, who, against her will, makes a pact that will bind her to Eilan forever; and the rebellious young priestess Caillean, who protects Eilan with a passion that runs far deeper than duty. Yet it is the Arch-Druid Ardanos, by turns the High Priestess's greatest ally and most ruthless enemy, who could destroy the Forest House, should he learn the terrible secret Eilan guards as fiercely as her life. The war that rages within Eilan mirrors the turbulence of her times; as the legions of Rome move closer, Eilan must rely on the power and magic of the Great Goddess to find her way out of the labyrinth in which fate has placed her... Like her classic bestseller The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley's new novel is a tapestry of myth, mystery, and romance, rich in the detail of the Druids' timeless rituals. The ForestHouse is a mesmerizing epic of a woman's mythic role at a turning point in history - brought to magnificent, unforgettable life.
FictionFantasyEpicHistoricalJuvenile FictionFantasy & Magic
RELEASED1995
PUBLISHERTurtleback
LENGTH432
LANGUAGEEN
Marion Zimmer was born on a farm in Albany, New York, during the Great Depression. As a child, she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy stories. She began writing them herself in 1949 and sold her first story to Vortex in 1952. She also married Robert Alden Bradley in 1949. Early in her career, she used pseudonyms for stories she wrote outside the speculative fiction genre, including some gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels such as I Am a Lesbian (1962). In 1964 she divorced her first husband and married numismatist Walter H. Breen. In 1965 she received her B.A. degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. She then moved to Berkeley, California, to pursue graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1966, she co-founded the Society for Creative Anachronism. In 1967 she moved to Staten Island, New York. She separated from her second husband in 1979 but remained married and continued a business relationship, until 1990 when he was arrested on child molestation charges and they divorced. After suffering declining health for years, she died in Berkeley in 1999. In 2000, she was awarded the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement.
