Avalon

Before the Mists obscured the Isle of Avalon, there was the Forest House; where, in a remote part of Britain, a secret circle of Druidic priestesses guarded the ancient rites of learning, healing, and prophecy against the inexorable approach of the Roman Empire. Young Eilan, born to a Druidic family, is ripening toward womanhood and the flowering of an inner power she hardly dares dream of. Already she hears the call of the Great Goddess - and it will be she who is ceremonially chosen as the new High Priestess when the reigning Priestess of the Oracle dies. But first, Eilan hears another voice - that of her love for the young Roman Gaius Macellius, whose mission is to subdue her native land and all its seemingly pagan ways. But Eilan must find the courage to renounce her lover for her sacred destiny... For within the Forest House's realm also dwell the bitter priestess Dieda, who, against her will, makes a pact that will bind her to Eilan forever; and the rebellious young priestess Caillean, who protects Eilan with a passion that runs far deeper than duty. Yet it is the Arch-Druid Ardanos, by turns the High Priestess's greatest ally and most ruthless enemy, who could destroy the Forest House, should he learn the terrible secret Eilan guards as fiercely as her life. The war that rages within Eilan mirrors the turbulence of her times; as the legions of Rome move closer, Eilan must rely on the power and magic of the Great Goddess to find her way out of the labyrinth in which fate has placed her... Like her classic bestseller The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley's new novel is a tapestry of myth, mystery, and romance, rich in the detail of the Druids' timeless rituals. The ForestHouse is a mesmerizing epic of a woman's mythic role at a turning point in history - brought to magnificent, unforgettable life.