Lancelot: Her Story

by Carol Anne Douglas

Overview

A young girl sees a man rape and murder her mother. She grabs a stick and puts out his eye. Her father raises her as a boy so she will be safe from men's attacks. She practices and practices until she becomes a great fighter - Lancelot. She wants to protect women, and she does.

Lancelot hears about King Arthur, a just king across the sea, and journeys to earn a place at Camelot. She vows to serve him, but fears that Arthur and his men will discover that she is a woman and send her away. Lancelot is shocked to realize that she is falling in love with the king's wife, Guinevere.

Guinevere is a strong woman who would have preferred to be queen in her own right, not just through marriage.

Saxons attack Arthur's kingdom, and Lancelot finds out that fighting a war is far different from saving women in single combat. The savagery of war devastates her.

According to Curious Wine author Katherine V. Forrest, "Lancelot: Her Story takes a place alongside Nicola Griffith's brilliant Hild (2013, set in the Middle Ages), in its highly detailed depiction of life in medieval times, in its reimagining of the Arthurian legends, specifically that noblest, purest of heart Knight of the Round Table, that polestar of the Arthurian legends, Lancelot. The story is both ingenious and suspenseful in its reworking of the tapestry of medieval times and its endless wars through a feminist prism."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780996772204
Publisher:	Hermione Books
Publication date:	11/04/2015
Pages:	634
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Carol Anne Douglas received a master's degree in political science from UCLA. She has always been torn between politics and literature. She has written more than 200 essays published in the feminist press and spent many years as an editor. She taught Women's Studies at George Washington University.

Since she was a girl, she has loved the Arthurian legends, particularly the character Lancelot. This is the first of two volumes about the beauty and tragedy of Camelot from the perspective of a female Lancelot.

Sherwood Smith, author of CROWN DUEL, said "Of all the Arthuriana I've read and loved, LANCELOT: HER STORY is right up top. It hearkens back to the galloping, castellated feel of Malory, and yet its twist speaks to today's audiences."

Editorial Reviews

2016-01-26
In this retelling of the Arthurian legend, Lancelot becomes a woman disguised as a man, and Guinevere longs to rule the realm. The tale of King Arthur has undergone many permutations over time, including feminist interpretations (for example, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon). Here, Lancelot starts out as Anna, but at 10 years old, her life changes forever when she witnesses her mother's rape and murder. To keep Anna safe, her father decides to raise her as a boy and train her in combat—preferable to women's work anyway, Anna thinks. Lancelot grows up determined to fight effectively, protect the innocent, and let no one discover her secret. Guinevere, too, has some secrets. She would like to rule Camelot in her own right, and she's attracted to women, not men—women like Queen Morgan, Arthur's half sister, and Lancelot, whose disguise Guinevere sees through immediately, unlike the soldiers ("How had this woman ever managed to live concealed as a man? She must be daring beyond measure," Guinevere speculates). Lancelot immediately impresses the queen ("There actually was a woman who had learned to fight! She marveled at the muscular arms that contrasted with the woman's large, gentle brown eyes"). As readers learn the true stories behind Gawaine, Mordred, and similar figures, Arthur fights his famous battles with Lancelot by his side, and Lancelot and Guinevere begin a passionate affair. In her debut book, Douglas does more than introduce cross-dressing and same-sex romance to the Arthurian mythos; Lancelot's unique status allows her to dissect the whole warrior mystique. She soon realizes that warfare is bloody, wasteful, and permanently horrifying for those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Women's work is dull; their roles and skirts are confining; but, Lancelot thinks, "was wearing breeches worth going through this horrible slaughter?" And despite sharing so much, Guinevere can't understand Lancelot's war experience. "How could you talk about it with a woman? No one could," says a friend. Such contradictions add interest to a familiar story—but the telling is so slow and leisurely that sustaining interest becomes difficult. And, though the challenges of a medieval same-sex relationship invite sympathy, Douglas gives her lovers little in common beyond a physical attraction, a need for secrets, and a hatred of sewing. A second volume, Lancelot and Guinevere, is planned to continue their story. Provides a distinctly fresh, if slow-moving, take on Camelot.

Kirkus Reviews