Illuminations

Rose is dedicated, troubled and on the move. She is an Australian medievalist on sabbatical in modern France. Most of her attention is focused on her research, on buying books, and on the odd behavior of her boyfriend. She finds an inexplicable manuscript that tells the story of Ailinn and Guenloie, two women who lived in Arthurian Britain. Ailinn is determined to solve the world's problems and Guenloie searches for success, romance, and her father. Rose's world parallels theirs. And theirs is about to come to an agonizing close. "The way the past illuminates the present; the way in which human lives throughout the ages illuminate an unchanging, yet always complex, human nature; the way in which art illuminates life, and vice versa: these are some of the concerns at the heart of this very fine novel. Yet it is much more than that: it is a journey deep into the heart of Arthurian myth, of the numinous, and of the human soul. What's more, it is most readable, and layered in a most intriguing and mysterious manner, reminiscent of A.S. Byatt's 'Possession'." -Sophie Massonauthor of the Laylines Trilogy