My mother loved Mary Stewart's books, and I can remember so wanting to read Stewart when I could barely handle chapter books. I had to wait--though I remember peeking inside several of the books on the shelf. The vocabulary defeated me--I was only in third grade!
My first Mary Stewart was This Rough Magic, and it remains in my Top 5 Books of all time. (Top 1 & 2, which remain neck and neck, constantly shifting position, are also Mary Stewart books: My Brother Michael and The Moonspinners.)By the time I glommed all of Stewart's books, she started putting out her Arthurian saga, the first of which was The Crystal Cave. This is the cover I remember, before I replaced the mass market paperback with the hardcover.
I haven't read The Crystal Cave in years. I was looking for a good comfort read while my back was messed up--yes, I strained my lower back and had spasms and great pain every time I breathed. It's gradually getting better--and I remembered this book.
The protagonist is Merlin, and Stewart's take combines history and myth with her great story-telling capabilities.
The link is to Amazon only because I'm lazy. If you're intrigued by the Romans in ancient Britain, by the Celts and the earliest of the Pendragon kings, by the origins of the King Arthur myth (which modern scholars think was a Roman descendent helping the Celts fight off the invading Angles and Saxons), then this book is for you.
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