SUMMARY :
GLASTONBURY
A Novel of The Holy Grail
New Release, Ebook Format
The Holy Grail lies somewhere in Glastonbury!When Joseph of Arimathea and his little band of pilgrims sought asylum from Roman persecution they fled to Glastonbury—and carried with them the most sacred relic in all of Christendom.
This tiny, sheltered corner of Britannia—this holy "Isle of Avalon"—was also a place of refuge when King Arthur and his knights fought off the invading barbarian hoard. And it became Arthur's final resting place.
Centuries later, the discovery of Arthur's bones in Glastonbury sparked a great flowering of the faith and magnificent building—after a devastating fire nearly obliterated the work and worship of centuries.
Then, after the last abbot of Glastonbury was dragged to his death atop the Tor, the Abbey's splendid arches were left to crumble. Yet they stand today—as beacons of hope for the future.
Two millennia of history and legend intertwine around Glastonbury's broken arches. And through it all—through ages ancient and modern—the faithful have sought to answer the same question that Arthur asked: Where is the Holy Grail?
PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction
Author: Donna Fletcher Crow
Find her: Donna
ABOUT DONNA :
The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries is a romantic intrigue series using literary figures as background: Dorothy L Sayers in The Shadow of Reality and Shakespeare in A Midsummer Eve's Nightmare.
Her newest release in the ebook field is Lord Danvers, a Victorian true crime series: A Most Inconvenient Death, Grave Matters, and To Dust You Shall Return.
The Daughters of Courage, Kathryn, Elizabeth and Stephanie is a pioneer family saga based on the stories of Donna's own family and other Idaho pioneers in the Kuna, Nampa and Boise area.
Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 10 grandchildren. Donna is remembered by Idahoans with long memories as a former Queen of the Snake River Stampede, Miss Rodeo Idaho and runner-up for Miss Rodeo America. She is an enthusiastic gardener.
THE BOOKISH DAME INTERVIEWS MS CROW :
Hello, again, Donna! I'm so happy to have you visit "A Bookish Libraria" again with another of your exciting books. Every time you come out with a new book I'm first in line to read it. Thrilled to be interviewing you! Let's get started~
Thank you so much, Deb. I’m delighted to be back with you.
I absolutely loved my earlier visit to A Bookish Libraria! (http://ning.it/Kkl2kN)
1) First of all, please tell us a special something about
what makes you "tick." When
you aren't writing, what are you doing? (Aside from being a mom)
Well, yes, being a wife, mom and grandmother is a huge
part of the picture, but I suppose my passion for England has always been a
major driving force of my life. My love for English history, literature and
landscape certainly played a major part in my writing GLASTONBURY, A Novel of
the Holy Grail.
2) You chose a specific genre, a place and time to write
about, what made you choose it?
I can’t really say I chose to write an epic, that more
just happened. I first envisioned a six-book series, then I read Edward
Rutherfurd’s SARUM and saw how my story would work perfectly in that format.
As to place, so many things came together to make me focus
on Glastonbury: my lifelong love of the Arthurian legends, my fascination with
William Blake’s poem Jerusalem:
And did those feet in ancient times,
Walk on England's
mountains green…
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
3) Bronte or Austen?
Hemingway or Hawthorne? Why?
Austen, Austen, Austen! First last and always. Since I was
a teenager. The delight of her humorous understatement, her wry observations of
human nature, the wonderful people she creates, the peace and beauty of her
world. . .
Actually, I’ve just returned from doing an extensive
research trip to the places where Jane lived. It will serve as background for
my next Elizabeth & Richard Mystery.
4) In your opinion, what makes a book a great one?
I choose my books first of all for their background. I
want a well-developed setting so that I can feel that I am there— living the
story with the characters. I need the author’s style to have a flow to it that
doesn’t pull me out of the fictive dream. That is the experience I strive to
deliver for my readers as well.
5) Which author(s) most influenced your love of books from
childhood?
I was an only child growing up on a farm so I simply read
everything I got my hands on, starting with HEIDI, BAMBI, THE BOBBSEY TWI NS. . . It was really discovering the English
classics, though that fired my passion. Starting, oddly, with WUTHERING HEIGHTS
(which I still don’t understand), then Dickens, George Eliot, and the sublime
Jane.
6) Read any good books in the past 6 months?
A JANE AUSTEN EDUCATION by William Deresiewicz was the
best nonfiction I read. I enjoyed returning to an old favorite Barbara Pym with
EXCELLENT WOMEN, I’m currently reading an excellent historical crime novel
HANGMAN BLIND by Cassandra Clark.
7) Choose 4 guests from any era for dinner. Who would they be and what would you choose
for a topic of conversation?
Well, no surprise here, they would all be English authors:
Jane Austen, Barbara Pym, G. K. Chesterton, and C. S. Lewis. I would sit back
and let them talk about their lives and their writing. And if I could ask one
more just to drop by for dessert I would love to have it all punctuated by
Oscar Wilde’s ascerbic wit.
8) Which of your characters is most like you?
Well, since GLASTONBURY covers 1500 years of English history,
there’s quite a range to choose from. Perhaps I could claim some small kinship
with Marie de France since she chose to live in England and wrote about some of
the same subjects I cover in GLASTONBURY, such as Arthurian legends and Saint
Patrick.
9) If you could cast your book for a movie, who would you
choose?
Derek Jacobi would be wonderful as Austin Ringwode, whom
history tells us was the last monk of Glastonbury. It is his searching for the
Holy Grail that gives my story its structure.
Hmmm— Kenneth Branaugh or Jude Law for King Arthur?
Definitely Kiera Knightly for
Guenivere. If this were to be filmed it would truly be “a cast of thousands.”
10) Worst habit you have?
Hoarding. My mother was a child of the depression and
always believed in keeping something “because we might need it.” Of course, it
often turns out that I do need it—
but can I find it??
11) How much research did you do before and during
writing?
In a sense GLASTONBURY is the product of a lifetime of
research and reading because I literally grew up on the tales of King Arthur.
Before the actual writing I took an extensive research trip to all the places I
write about, especially Glastonbury, Tintagel, Dozmary Pool, Hadrian’s Wall,
Caerleon. . .
The writing itself took three years and I was continuing
my research for each section: Celtic, Roman, Arthurian, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and
Tudor through all that time.
12) Psychologists tell us the thing we think we'd most
like to grow up to be when we're ten years old is our avocation. What did you want to be?
It’s true that I always loved to read and write, but
mostly I wanted to be a rodeo queen— which I was: Miss Rodeo Idaho and
runner-up to Miss Rodeo America.
Thank you, Donna. I always love your answers to interview questions. You're the most fun! Good luck with your new book...I just know you have another one brewing. I'm anxiously awaiting it.
5 stars for all of Donna Fletcher Crow's books
You can find them on Amazon and Barnes and Noble
Deborah/TheBookishDame
