Happy Tuesday, and a very happy book birthday to The Chosen Queen by Samy Davey! This sounds like such an intriguing, feminist retelling, and I’m eager to learn more about the origins of the Camelot stories from a new and fresh perspective. Here’s some more about the book:
Title: The Chosen Queen
Author: Sam Davey
Page Length: 352
Publisher: Diversion Books
Synopsis: Igraine, destined mother of King Arthur, takes center stage for a powerful, feminist retelling of Camelot.
The stories of Camelot do not begin with the sword in the stone—but rather with a twisted chain of murder, magic, and deceit.
Igraine is happily married to Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, even though his withdrawal from the Mysteries and the Goddess have created a strain between them, as well as friction between her and her mentor, the Lady of the Lake. While they are visiting Uther Pendragon, King of Britain, at his castle, Uther makes it obvious to the entire court that he desires Igraine to be his queen. Later, he grabs her in the hall, and when Igraine informs Gorlois of what happened, he gathers his people and abruptly leaves the festivities, later declaring war on Uther. England has only recently found peace, and Merlin pleads with Gorlois to pledge allegiance to Uther. But Gorlois’ pride will keep him bent toward war, no matter the cost to his people.
Igraine bravely assumes the role of leader at Tintagel Castle, encouraging the women left behind to continue working the fields to show their devotion to the Goddess and instructing her two daughters to harness their own powers. She plans a grand summer solstice celebration, inviting their allies. On the eve of the solstice, Gorlois unexpectedly returns to Tintagel. But it is only after she lies with who she thinks is her beloved husband that Igraine learns the full extent of the devious plot of Merlin and the Lady of the Lake.
Igraine is chosen by the Goddess, by the Lady of the Lake, by Merlin, by Uther Pendragon . . . but in the end, she will choose her own fate.
Sam Davey (1963- ) spends a lot of her time living in her head, which is a strange but quite comforting place to be. The rest of the time is divided between work and play. Formerly a Whitehall Civil Servant, Sam now works for the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden, She lives by the sea with her husband and intermittently present children.
Sam’s new novel, The Chosen Queen – the first book in the Pendragon Prophecies – is a feminist re-telling of the origins of the Camelot Legends, which did not start with a sword in a stone, but with a tangled web of magic, murder and deception. The story started many years ago, when Sam travelled to the distant castle of Tintagel in Cornwall, and began to think about what it would have been like to have been deceived, double-crossed and held prisoner within those walls.
Angels of Islington, Sam’s first novel, uses fantasy and black humour to explore the wide ranging philosophical and theological issues relating to free-will, dualism, the nature of divinity and the essence of humanity.
Sam studied philosophy and politics at the University of Durham and regards herself as religiously agnostic – but deeply interested in the power of belief to motivate acts of both perfect kindness and the most appalling cruelty.
