Product Description

The legends of King Arthur and his knights have passed down through the generations since medieval times. In this spellbinding trilogy, Rosemary Sutcliff recreates all the mystique and mystery of the golden age of Camelot for a new generation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101029 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 656 pages

From the Back Cover
The Sword and the Circle

The Light Beyond the Forest

The Road to Camlann

The legends of King Arthur and his knights have been enjoyed for centuries. In this spellbinding trilogy, Rosemary Sutcliff recreates all the mystique and mystery of the golden age of Camelot.

Cover illustration David Wyatt
Previously published as King Arthur Stories

About the Author
Rosemary Sutcliff was born in December 1920 in West Clanden, Surrey. With over 40 books to her credit, Rosemary Sutcliff is now universally considered one of the finest writers of historical novels for children. Her first novel, The Queen Elizabeth Story, was published in 1950. In 1972 her book Tristan and Iseult was runner-up for the Carnegie Medal. In 1974 she was highly commended for the Hans Christian Andersen Award and in 1978 Song for a Dark Queen was commended for the Other Award. Rosemary lived for a long time in Arundel, Sussex, with her dogs, and in 1975 she was awarded the OBE for services to Children's Literature.

Customer Reviews

Bedtime Arthur again
This is three books in one: The Sword and the Circle, The Light Beyond the Forest and The Road to Camlann.

It's Sutcliff writing, so you can't really go wrong here, as she is a great and learned author of numerous books and tales, mostly historical fiction, that bring the past to life. 'Eagle of The Ninth' is a young adult book (and beyond) that famously and brilliantly brings to life Roman Britain. She doesn't use the same style here, which is a shame....

So just be warned that this book is really for fans of King Arthur tales, who are already familiar with the traditional versions from other books, and wish to see them re-emphasised and embellished here by an accomplished author. Replaced even.

However, Sutcliff has chosen again the old style of Tale-writing to re-visit them, and this serves both to re-awaken the old power of old narrative, but also to restrict them, emotionally and from a more cynical modern perspective.

So, you won't find any The Mists of Avalon (Ballantine Reader's Circle) here, where the writing is empathic, descriptive and very engaging, but you will find the bedtime story element is accessible. Also, the content follows a similar trend in the developments at court and ultimately towards the last Battle. However, there is no big explanation of how christian values work alongside Merlin's magical ones. We just have to accept the casual facts in the myths.

It's still a first-rate involvement with the heroic, mythical past and all the chivalrous values that give them strength. Some of the tales are expertly re-counted.

The weaker book is the middle one, where the magical or spiritual Grail aspects get a bit far-fetched and tiring, even for bedtime stories....

But where each of the tales of all the Knights are told, the final book leaves out none of them, covering all the bases to leave us moved by the re-telling and illuminated again.

We also sense that Sir Lancelot is really the tragic hero of this book, and Sutcliff's fave.