Guinevere: The Legend in Autumn (51 page)

An excerpt from

Queen of the Summer Stars

I, Guinevere, wife of King Arthur and High Queen of Britain, dashed around the corner of the chicken coop, arms flying, war whoop filling my throat. The children of the Court were ranged behind me, shouting gleefully as a half-grown piglet skittered across the inner courtyard of the Mansion. The paving stones were slippery from a morning shower and the squealing shoat skidded into the kitchen doorstep before careening off toward the garden.

“Not again!” I howled, throwing myself on the creature just as a stranger stepped through the door.

With a flurry of bunched muscles and flailing trotters the porker squirted out of my grasp, leaving me red-faced and breathless. Brushing my hair out of my eyes, I looked up to find a small, mud-spattered priest staring down at me in astonishment.

“Your Highness?”

I grinned at the tentative greeting and scrambled back to my feet. Heaven knows what he expected of his High King’s wife, but I was what he got.

Reading Group Guide

1. How is this version of Camelot different from presentations you have encountered before? What do you like best and least in each approach?

2. What would you have done differently had you been in Gwen’s place? Why?

3. Just before she died, Gwen’s mother told her, “Once you see what must be done, you just do it,” an admonition that shapes Gwen’s actions throughout her life. Is there one such guiding principle in your philosophy, and where (or who) did it come from? Do you like it or dislike it? Have you passed it on to your children?

4. What most surprised you about the lifestyles portrayed in this book?

5. Have you been in any of Gwen’s situations in your own life—been unable to have children of your own, become a stepparent, tried to mitigate between the warring factions of your family or loved two people at once? How did (or would) you handle it differently from Gwen?

6. Would you like to be a ruling monarch?

7. Why do you think the story of Camelot has lasted these fifteen centuries? What are the themes that touch you most?

8. Persia deliberately made her Guinevere homely, though Arthur’s queen has generally been described as beautiful. Did this difference affect your reaction to her?

About the Author

Persia Woolley is the author of the Guinevere Trilogy:
Child of the Northern Spring
,
Queen of the Summer Stars
, and
Guinevere, the Legend in Autumn
. Persia has had a career in journalism and television, and she has also written three nonfiction books. She presently lives near the northern California coast with her son and is currently working on an annotated version of her Guineveres for the use of students and scholars in the field.