Funny…I just looked at the book cover to get the title because I had no idea what it was! I picked this book up for one reason only. Dame Mary Stewart wrote it. It’s set during Arthurian times and based on a legend (which I didn’t know until the end when I read the author’s notes). I love Mary Stewart’s books, especially the ones about Merlin (The Crystal Cave, the Hollow Hills, etc.), but my most favourite book of hers (and actually just a fave in general) is The Ivy Tree*. If you haven’t read it, I suggest you hunt it down. None of this is YA, but I think teens might enjoy MS’s books.
Just as a matter of interest, when I was studying screenwriting years ago, I wrote Mary Stewart a letter (she must be in her nineties by now) and asked if she would mind if I tried adapting The Ivy Tree into a screenplay and then selling it on spec. Sometimes writers let you do this without optioning the book (or at least, that’s what my handy dandy screenwriting book said!). She sent my letter to her agent who said, “NO WAY! We are already working on several deals for that book!” (haha…like I was going to fall for that…the book had been out for 35 years and was OP). However, Dame Stewart and I exchanged a couple of very nice personal letters and I still have them! She has beautiful handwriting.
P.S. I know I have not updated Need To Read very much but it is because I’m just not reading that much due to edits (oh, okay…and baseball). I intend to tackle my library stack and some of the 50+ ARCs I have though, so look for more updates soon!
*Ooooh! Very exciting news. The Ivy Tree appears to have been rereleased in 2007, so you can actually get it. My copy is from 1961 and the print is so tiny I can hardly read it. I should get a new copy! Hmmm…I wonder how soon the movie is coming out? 🙂
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