Circle of Stones: A Novel [Paperback]

Wales, the 12th Century: As told by Brenda, a mistress of Owain, the Prince of Wales, the court of Gwynedd faces the threat of amalgamation by the English realm and the Christian religion. Afraid of a fateful prophecy about her newborn son, Brenda flees Owain and Wales for the safety of a druid camp in Ireland. Comforted by their spiritual beliefs and the handsome Sein, Brenda begins to adapt to druid ways and to study druid knowledge. But when Owain's men recapture her, she claims that her son Madoc has died and reluctantly returns to court. Disgusted with Owain's bloodlust and the rivalry among his mistresses and sons, Brenda dreams of the day she'll return to her son and the druid community. But Madoc is fostered to a local druid teacher, just as the danger of external invasion and internal betrayal threaten Owain's power. Brenda fears the disintegration of Gwynedd's stability and the loss of the druid values, and finds her fate closely bound to her old lover and her secret son.

Anna Lee Waldo's extensive research, rich details, and skillful writing make this medieval Welsh world of family betrayals, political intrigue, battling religious faiths, and unrequited love spring to life. Like Clavell's Shogun or Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, Circle of Stones describes a historical period with an understanding that highlights the timeless aspects of human nature. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Researching Sacajawea, her first historical novel, Waldo encountered the legend of the blond Welshman, Madoc, who sailed to the Americas three centuries before Columbus. That tale inspired this well-researched but sometimes stolidly paced novel whose Irish heroine, Brenda, is the favored mistress of Owain, Prince of Gwynedd in North Wales, and mother of Madoc. When Owain falls prey to a superstitious prophecy and demands the newborn boy be put to death, Brenda flees with the help of Druids. On her forced return to Owain, she pretends Madoc has been killed. Brenda finds she cannot love Owain, but she does become his trusted adviser and a talented healer. The narrative is anecdotal and episodic, offering a variety of historical characters in the years 1151-1170 A.D, and employing archaic language and spelling. Waldo takes some unconventional risks: Owain's two wives, Gladys and Christiannt, both New Religionists (Christians), are presented as foolish, selfish women, in marked contrast to wise, courageous Brenda, who favors the Old Religionists (the Druids). Madoc, predestined at birth to be a leader and man of peace, later comes to seek out his mother and serve his father. Brenda is only one of several fully realized characters, a woman who struggles with the male-dominated 12th-century social code but still orchestrates a fulfilling life for herself. At times Waldo's determination to represent the religious and political history of the epoch retards the thrust of her narrative, but readers will appreciate the complex dynamics she portrays within her fact-filled epic.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

When Brenda, mistress of Prince Owain of Gwynedd, makes love to him under the northern lights, she knows that any child she conceives will be special. But Owain's wife and another mistress have conceived at the same time, and to save her baby from the death foretold by an ancient prophecy Brenda flees with the baby to Ireland and the care of a druid community. Though Brenda is eventually forced to return to Owain in Wales, the baby Madoc remains to learn the peaceful ways of the "old region." Back in Wales, Brenda must satisfy herself with practicing the druidic healing skills she has learned and advising Owain as he copes with warring sons, the greedy advances of England's King Henry II, and keeping peace between the "old religionists" and the new until Madoc, now a druid in his own right, comes to right ancient wrongs. A richly drawn medieval saga with complex characters by the author of Sacajawea (LJ 3/15/79); sequels are planned.
-?Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Waldo, author of the best-selling Sacajawea (1979), introduces the first volume of The Druid Circle, a series of historical novels based on a legendary journey undertaken by an intrepid band of Welshmen who sailed to the Americas a full three centuries before Columbus "discovered" the New World. After giving birth under a full moon to the illegitimate son of Prince Owain, Brenda flees to her native Ireland to protect her infant from his superstitious father. Raised among the Druids, young Madoc is destined by prophecy to one day guide his adopted people to an unknown land. Eventually returning to Wales, Brenda and Madoc become entangled in both a religious controversy and a political struggle, as Christians clash with Druids and princelings vie for power and territory. Bolstered by a crackerjack plot and a superbly rendered cast of characters, this engrossing narrative effectively conjures the semimystical world of the medieval Celts. Richly satisfying fare for fans of meaty historical epics. Margaret Flanagan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Readers with long memories will recall Waldo's 1.5-million-copy first novel, Sacajawea (1979), a 1,350-page paperback original about the Shoshone ``Birdwoman'' who winds up guiding Lewis and Clark on their search for the Northwest Passage. Circle of Stones is the first in a series about blond, sea-blue-eyed Welsh Druid worshipers discovering the New World 300 years - before Columbus, migrating up the Missouri River, and eventually settling in the present-day Dakotas, where they become the blue-eyed, blond- and red-haired Mandan Indian tribe, which builds coracles astonishingly like those in Wales. This first installment tells of Madoc, son of Prince Owain, and his troubles in Wales before setting forth to find a peaceful land where Druidic people can worship without having to battle Christians. Madoc's mother, Irish-Welsh Brenda, relates much of the story. Because prophecy has predicted that Madoc will be the messiah of the Druids, assassins lurk, and Brenda must flee Wales with her newborn. Volume Two will cover Madoc's exploits in Wales, France, and Iceland; the series could conceivably grow as long as Sacajawea. Waldo's writing may have improved over the years, but shes still no literary giant: her characters frequently ``fly into tirades,'' declare themselves to be ``stinging with embarrassment,'' or find their minds ``in a whirl.'' Clich-phobes, be warned. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.