Dawn of Avalon (Twilight of Avalon, #0.5)

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Dawn of Avalon (Twilight of Avalon 0.5)

by Anna Elliott (Goodreads Author)

3.15 of 5 stars 3.15 · rating details · 277 ratings · 50 reviews

He would become the most powerful wizard in the history of Britain Merlin. She would become Britain's most storied sorceress Morgan le Fay. But before they were legends, they were young. And they were lovers. Together, in the sunlight of one day long ago, they saved a kingdom. Dawn of Avalon. A stand-alone story from the universe of Anna Elliott's Twilight of Avalon.

Kindle Edition, 78 pages

Published September 10th 2010

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Nov 01, 2011 Melissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

The begining chapter was difficult to follow and I'm still not entirely sure who was narrating at that point. The following story however was intriguing enough and well written. I know very little about any Authorian history or lore, I suppose a better opinion could be formed if I had. I give this two stars simply because it's not my typical reading material and it didn't quite captivate me to the point of wanting to seek out additional material in this genre or the trilogy to which this is a pr...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars

From the mysterious mists of history and legend comes a delightful, unique Twilight of Avalon: A Novel of Trystan and Isolde by Anna Elliott. This novel takes the traditional Arthurian legends surrounding the famous lovers and expands on them in a surprisingly deep and enjoyable way that will keep readers hooked and thirsty for more.

Twilight of Avalon is told from the viewpoint of Isolde, the grandchild of the legendary Arthur Pendragon and his half-sister Morgan the sorceress. The story begins...more From the mysterious mists of history and legend comes a delightful, unique Twilight of Avalon: A Novel of Trystan and Isolde by Anna Elliott. This novel takes the traditional Arthurian legends surrounding the famous lovers and expands on them in a surprisingly deep and enjoyable way that will keep readers hooked and thirsty for more.

Twilight of Avalon is told from the viewpoint of Isolde, the grandchild of the legendary Arthur Pendragon and his half-sister Morgan the sorceress. The story begins with Isolde coming to terms with the untimely death of her husband, King Constantine, and the unexpected collection of suitors now vying for Isolde's hand. Without a husband, father, or brother, Isolde is suddenly alone in a man's world and must learn to navigate the wild world of court intrigue, political betrayal, and religion.

Isolde wishes to marry no one after Constantine's death, despite the fact that she may be forced to marry for purely political reasons. Using her intelligence and kindness (as well as some aid from the Saxon prisoner, Trystan), Isolde must outwit the forces of Marche, the likely killer of her husband, and find a way to survive on her own. Isolde and Trystan match wits with Marche and other men of the kingdom, trying to find a means of revenge while living to see the next day. It isn't long until the religious leaders of the time accuse Isolde of being a witch, and plan to use these accusations to destroy her.

Isolde's story did started out very slow. In fact, it wasn't until page 100 or so that it started to pick up, and things immediately got vicious and interesting... but quickly confusing. The confusion stems from the fact that the plot was very involved and had actions going on constantly. While this keeps the plot from getting dull, it can be easy to get lost unless the reader is paying very close attention to every detail.

This, however, is easily overlooked due to Elliot's precise, knowledgeable writing style that occasionally crosses the line into poetry. Elliot's writing sounds like a well-trained storyteller who actually witnessed the turbulent events of the story first-hand. The tale is gritty, grueling, and dark - a far cry from the overly-romanticized bard songs that most readers are familiar with.

Twilight of Avalon is a compelling tale of a woman trying to survive while forming a bond with an unlikely friend. Even though the story has a long way to go, Twilight of Avalon is the first novel in a trilogy that is sure to bring readers back for more. (less)

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Jan 20, 2011 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dawn of Avalon by Anna Elliot is a prequel to her Twilight of Avalon Trilogy, which so far includes Twilight of Avalon and Dark Moon of Avalon both of which focus on the romance of Tristan and Isolde. Set in Arthurian England Dawn of Avalon looks further back at the beginning of the romance between Morgan and Merlin and establish the family relationships prior to the events of Elliott's other novels. As this novel is set apart in time, it stands alone as a complete, if short, work and it is not...more

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Sep 01, 2011 Leah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nook-version, free, 2011

This is a prequel to the series of books written by Elliott, but it was written after she completed the series so this can be read as a stand-alone. It's about Morgan and Merlin and what could have happened upon their first meeting and if they fell in love. Based on the summary of the book, I thought there would be more romance, but nothing happens until literally half-way through and then it is only a description of a kiss. A pretty tame kiss, as far as literature goes, in my opinion. They only...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Alanna Mooney rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-romance, books-2013, historical-fiction

Dawn Of Avalon is a prequel to the rest of her series, and follows the story of Merlin and Morgan le Fay before all of what we know to be the normal Arthurian legend. Morgan is a young woman who is tending to the wounds of a prisoner, while undercover with her father’s enemy. She knows she has the gift of foresight, but is not expecting the reaction and emotions she feels when tending her prisoner, a young Merlin. They attempt to figure out the connection between them, while trying to escape the...more Dawn Of Avalon is a prequel to the rest of her series, and follows the story of Merlin and Morgan le Fay before all of what we know to be the normal Arthurian legend. Morgan is a young woman who is tending to the wounds of a prisoner, while undercover with her father’s enemy. She knows she has the gift of foresight, but is not expecting the reaction and emotions she feels when tending her prisoner, a young Merlin. They attempt to figure out the connection between them, while trying to escape the clutches of the man in charge of the prison where they both reside.

All in all, I was expecting more from this novel. The first section of the story was very hard to follow and I found it near on impossible to figure out who was narrating the plot at this point; it was a big jumble of violence and dark imagery that I couldn’t make head or tails of. Because of the confusion at the start, I found it very hard to gain any sense of affinity with either of the main characters which carried through the rest of the story.

Adding to this lack of affinity was the fact that neither character had any features or characteristics that were recognisable from the Morgan and Merlin that we have all been accustomed to reading about and seeing on TV. Writing about such well-known characters can be a minefield – the challenge is to do something fresh with the characters, while not diverging away from what makes them so loved in the first place. This is something that, in my opinion, is not something that the author managed in this case.

The book was sold as Morgan and Merlin having one perfect day together before all of the drama that we are so familiar with taking place, but I don’t feel that this was what I got. This “perfect day” spanned only a matter of pages in the novel and felt very abrupt and forced – there was no real indication of a building romance between the two until that point. There was no real striking moment of chemistry between the two and therefore I didn’t buy into the romance that ran through the last third of the novel.

This is all just my opinion and I wouldn’t wish to stop anyone from trying this novel for themselves, as I’m sure there are plenty that would derive enjoyment from it, but for me it was just too far from what I am familiar with in terms of the Arthurian legends and unclear in it’s plot that I struggled to enjoy it.(less)

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Mar 09, 2011 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, england, historical-fiction

"Dawn of Avalon" is a prequel novella to Anna Elliott's "Twilight of Avalon" series. In this story, we have Merlin and Morgan meeting in the earliest days of the Arthurian sagas -- with Merlin imprisoned by Vortigern.

As a long-time reader of Arthurian legends (and a former member of the International Arthurian Society), I can say with certainty that Elliott has researched the tales and the time period very carefully. She understands all of the relationships (which are convoluted indeed) between...more

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Oct 01, 2010 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

‘At the bottom you will see two hollow stones, and in them two dragons sleep.’ - Historia Brittonium

Once again Anna enchanted me into her Arthurian realm; this time with the story of Morgana and Merlin.

I was touched by the mutual understanding between these two characters, and the realisation that their fate was inevitable; woven into the fabric of their soul. The young Morgana acknowledges that her eventual union with her half brother Arthur would see her birth a son Modred, who would ultimatel...more ‘At the bottom you will see two hollow stones, and in them two dragons sleep.’ - Historia Brittonium

Once again Anna enchanted me into her Arthurian realm; this time with the story of Morgana and Merlin.

I was touched by the mutual understanding between these two characters, and the realisation that their fate was inevitable; woven into the fabric of their soul. The young Morgana acknowledges that her eventual union with her half brother Arthur would see her birth a son Modred, who would ultimately betray his father and result in death. Consequently, The Sight, allows Morgana to see her other potential paths (as she envisages them) if she were to abort Modred, if she were to enter into the services of the church (a nunnery); each thread leading to the same end: The death of Arthur.

Under the persona of an assistant boy to Bron (Vortigen’s druid), as a healer, Morgana tends Merlin's wounds as a result of having Vortigen interrogate him. Morgana senses an inner strength within Merlin, but doesn’t pick up on his otherworldly abilities until she later assists with his escape, and they share an intimate moment together, Morgana then realises that Merlin sees what will be or may be. Merlin speaks of seeing the aftermath of battle, of walking through body strewn fields, of being a soldier, but also of standing alongside the King, seemingly confused with whether he is seeing what is or will be. Merlin seems troubled, lost and confused but Morgana assumes this is largely due to the amnesia as a result from being struck on the head during Vortigen's interrogation.

Morgana is a strong character indeed, not the son & heir, her father Uther Pendragon had craved, she is set aside; resulting in Morgana's constant effort to impress her father, to be the daughter who could be just as much of value and honour as her half brother Arthur. After Vortigen’s downfall at Dina’s Emrys, Morgana bathes in the praise of her father as he acknowledges her forewarning stating that only the daughter of the Pendragon would have such strength of courage to walk alongside the enemy and being a young women at that; Morgana's moment with her father shatters in seconds as he learns Arthur was wounded, although not mortally so, rushes to his side; Morgana acknowledging she is only a women, not the heir to the British Kingdom, and will always remain so, Merlin reassuring Morgana that in his own way, Uther "does love you”.

I liked how this story bought together two of the most circumspect characters in Arthurian Legend; Morgana and Merlin. Morgana is almost always portrayed as the temptress who wooed Arthur into getting her with child, knowing the son would be his fate. Morgana was always portrayed as being jealous of Arthur and Guinevere as well as of the power and station Merlin held. And then there is Merlin, who is almost always portrayed as the father like figure to Arthur, powerful druid and keeper of secrets; he who knows all and who is willing to sacrifice anything for Arthur and Britain. Almost always, Morgana and Merlin are spoken of as enemies; yet in Anna's retelling they are of one breathe. United. Or at least, mutually so.

Out of Anna’s two beautifully written (and free to download from her website) short stories, I most enjoyed this story; mainly due to my childhood fascination of Merlin and the otherworld, but also because of its strong focus on Welsh legend (Legend of the Two Dragons) and also the different approach Anna took with the retelling of the story of Morgana and Merlin. Anna is truly a gifted storyteller and I couldn’t possibly recommend this short story enough; as far as favourite Arthurian writers go; Anna would have to be my favourite.
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Sep 26, 2012 Merissa Sheppard rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle-freebie

Most people, if they have any interest in King Arthur or Avalon, have heard at least one story about Morgan(a) le Fay and Merlin being lovers. Most of the stories also start the same way, with Morgan being the daughter of Ygraine of Cornwall. This story takes a different stance.

In this story, Morgan is the daughter of Uther's first wife, who he killed on the charge of adultery once he had seen Ygraine. She meets Merlin as he is being tortured by Vortigern and helps him to escape. They have one n...more

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Sep 24, 2010 Nikki rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, based-on-myth-saga-etc, arthurian, short-stories-novellas

Dawn of Avalon is a short story based on Anna Elliott's Twilight of Avalon trilogy, available for free download in a range of formats here. A friend of mine is very enthusiastic about her work, and with that and since I can't get hold of Twilight of Avalon just now, I decided to read this now. I wish there'd been more of it: it was a world and interpretation I definitely enjoyed, but I wanted to know Merlin and Morgan even better. I don't know how much they might come into the books themselves,...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Rachel rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, kindle, romance

Absolutely pointless. This is supposed to be a romance book judging by the description, but there was like, barely ANY romance in it. At one point I was thinking, is the author trying to imply something, or am I just waiting for something to happen here? I am a huge fan of Arthurian literature, and I was excited to read this. What a disapointment! It was a quick read, but most of this "love story" was filled with torture, battles, and too many unnecessary words. The violence wasn't even that gra...more

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Dec 04, 2010 Zixuan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, romance

Despite it being a free Nookbook, I actually really liked the story and plot of this book. I've always liked fantasies in the Authur time period and I think Elliot did a good job of portraying her characters and story in this book.
The only critic I would have for this book is the confusion that struck me in the beginning. It also seemed really slow and I could figure out whose point of view the story was told from until Merlin called Morgan "Lady". I also think this book could include more adve...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Anna Elliott's novella Dawn of Avalon is set at the beginning of Arthurian legend, and tells the story of Morgan first meeting Merlin, and of Merlin first meeting the King Arthur.

The narrator of this tale is a young Morgan Le Fay, half-sister to Arthur, who holds the power of The Sight (an ability to see the future). Dressed as a boy and under the guise of assistant to the Druid Bron, Morgan is sent into Dinas Emrys to spy on Vortigen, enemy of her father, Uther. Whilst at Dinas Emrys, her abili...more Anna Elliott's novella Dawn of Avalon is set at the beginning of Arthurian legend, and tells the story of Morgan first meeting Merlin, and of Merlin first meeting the King Arthur.

The narrator of this tale is a young Morgan Le Fay, half-sister to Arthur, who holds the power of The Sight (an ability to see the future). Dressed as a boy and under the guise of assistant to the Druid Bron, Morgan is sent into Dinas Emrys to spy on Vortigen, enemy of her father, Uther. Whilst at Dinas Emrys, her abilities as a healer are required to tend to the wounds of a young Merlin, captured by Vortigen, and tortured endlessly for information that Merlin either cannot or will not divulge.

Merlin cannot remember his past, but like Morgan, he too can see the future, and as such they are both aware of the roles they will play in the life and death of their future king, Arthur. Together they set in motion the events that will bring about the defeat of Vortigen, and give birth to what is known today as the Arthurian legend.

Elliott has made Morgan Le Fay an innocent, likeable character, aware of what she will become but knowing she is powerless to stop it. Merlin is represented as a young man with no past, perfect to be moulded into the legendary wizard. The manner in which Elliott brings these two characters together feels as though it was the will of the Gods, who have carefully steered each onto the other's life path.

Even though Morgan and Merlin play important roles in Arthurian legend, it was refreshing to read a story where Arthur himself plays a minor part: It may be Arthur who becomes the focus of the myth, but it was the people around him that made it happen.

For me, Morgan Le Fay has always been one of the most intriguing characters of King Arthur's court, and I love that she is the narrator of this story. Elliott's passion for Arthurian legend is evident in this novella, which is well-researched, brilliantly written and easy to read. Elliott brings these characters out of myth and legend and makes them feel like real people.

The only disappointment was that this wasn't a full-length novel: Since having finished it, I find myself often thinking of this story, and of Elliott's Morgan and Merlin, who have clearly left a lasting impression. I harbour not-so-secret hopes that Elliott re-works this as a novel, or uses it as the beginning of another Arthurian-based series, from the perspective of these two characters.(less)

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Jun 15, 2012 Sandra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arthurian-legend, e-books, fantasy, in-english, read-in-2012, read-in-vienna

Fascinating prequel! I really love the characterization of Morgan here, and though the other characters also seemed quite cool, they weren't quite as fleshed out and Morgan simply takes the cake for me. Or maybe that's just because I'm such a big fan of Morgana in general.

This (free) prequel was very nice indeed, and I feel quite inspired to read the rest of the series now, even though that mostly seems to feature Tristan & Isolde instead. But then Morgan wasn't the only good thing in this p...more

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Jun 15, 2011 Tara Renaud rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not bad for a free e-book. This tale is about Merlin and Morgan meeting in the midst of a war and having a bit of a romance. It is apparently a pre-quel to a series of Arthurian romance stories. Since I just finished watching the first season of Camelot, a show on Starz about King Arthur, it seemed a fitting choice to read. I gave it three stars, as it is not a full story, and actually seemed to end quite abruptly to me, but it was an interesting take on these two important figures in the Arthur...more

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Jan 03, 2011 April rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

This book is a prequel to the author's book Twilight of Avalon. It is a good short story about Morgan and Merlin.
I found it a little difficult to figure out which character the author was talking about in the beginning and then it smoothed out. Merlin is a warrior being tortured and Morgan is a healer (pretending to be a boy) who helps him. Once I figured out the characters I found it to be a nice quite read. A simple story of a day of love.

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Dec 06, 2011 Lance Riley rated it 1 of 5 stars

This wasn't a very good book. Ms. Elliot tried to use some sort of flowery prose to match the feeling of the Arthurian era, but it just came off as ponderous and contrived. Sorry. Morgan and Merlin's "connection" seems a bit forced and there seemed to be zero chemistry between the two of them. I don't know why, but I felt nothing for these characters. Too bad, because Morgan and Merlin are awesome.

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Dec 30, 2011 Lady Reads rated it 4 of 5 stars

I gave this book a four rating, although it certainly could be worth a five if only it were longer. This story portrays Morganna the way I've alwys wanted to see her; open, honest, not scheming, likable. She's a woman who knows and accepts her strange fate but chooses to love anyway. This was a Merlin and Morgan that were powerful and endearing. I only wish their story was longer.

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Jun 15, 2011 Lindsey rated it 2 of 5 stars

I typically love to get lost in Arthurian stories but this one seemed to be cut short and just end. Perhaps because it was a free nook book they try to just get you sucked into the series but even so, there was not enough of a devleopment of characters and plot. Bad guy=bad. Story behind mystery man which was conviently solved in the last few pages and the female lead had no depth.

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Aug 25, 2012 Linda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Despite the dates above, it took only a few hours to read this book. Easy reading; style, mechanics and plot were all good. This book is the foundation of the Avalon trilogy. I look forward to reading those books. I rather like the short introduction prequel. It is short but firmly lets the reader know who is who and what is what and the connection the same will have throughout the trilogy.

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Aug 06, 2012 Lisette rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: collection2012, ebooks, own

I have not read any of the author's books. A friend recommended this to me, so I checked it out. It's been sitting on my iBooks app for a while, actually. I got halfway through and stopped for the longest time. It's difficult to follow in the first chapter, though I'm sure it was because I wasn't sure who was narrating. It was an intriguing tale, and I could not put it down once I got into it. It doesn't necessarily get me wanting to seek out more though, to which I'm a bit disappointed. But I d...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Gillian rated it 3 of 5 stars

I didn't realize this was a prequel until I was reading it or that it was pretty short. But I still really liked it. I am going to check out the rest of the books, but I would have loved maybe 5 more pages... the first few pages were tough to get into. The wording is great, but very to the period.

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May 04, 2011 Amber rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: couldn-t-finish, ebooks

Okay, so here goes the ugly thruth....I DID NOT like this book at all. It so was not my typical read but I just couldn't get into it. I like the whole Camelot thing with Merlin etc, but seriously felt lost with this one.

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Nov 21, 2011 Suzie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Historical readers

Recommended to Suzie by: Amazon.com

Shelves: kindle-book, 2011, fiction, free-ebook, historical-fantasy, romance-historical-time-unknown, romance-medieval, short-story

This was a great book. It was a little hard to get into but well worth reading if you like Merlin and Morgan. I will be looking for the other books in the series if they a re about Merlin and Morgan also. This was a free book in the Kindle Store.

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Jan 01, 2011 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, ebooks, camelot

I can't shake the feeling I have read this story before. Somehow it seemed overly familiar. Thankfully it was one of the enjoyable version, and was written well. I will likely pick up other books by this author.

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Feb 16, 2011 Kayla Walker added it

This was a great book and I really enjoyed. I wasn't too sure what it was going to be about but it turned out to be quite interesting. I might consider reading the additional books that go with this one.

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Jun 04, 2011 Georgia rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you can get it for free on your Kindle, fine. But I wouldn't pay for it. It's a just okay short story about Merlin and King Arthur's sister, Morganna (I think that's the spelling).

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Apr 06, 2012 Cheryl rated it 2 of 5 stars

The beginning of the book is very confusing and almost impossible to tell who is narrating. Later the story is easier to follow, but quite dark. I guess I like a lighter read.

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Nov 06, 2011 Marilyn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a short read. It was interesting on how she had Merlin and Morgan meeting. I will have to check and see if this went any further in the Twilight of Avalon series.

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Jan 03, 2011 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks

Short story. It was about Morgan and Merlin and this story portrays them as being lovers before they became enemies. It was a free Barnes and Noble Nook Book.

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Dec 09, 2012 Mad about rated it 3 of 5 stars

A remake of a famous tale - Merlin, arthur and Morgan Le-fay. We know what becomes of them but how did the tale begin?

Morgan, the insignificant daughter of Uther embarks on a bold mission with her bodyguard Bron against the Saxons for the good of England. While Arthur is being trained and protected as a precious Prince Morgan is in Disguise within the crumbling Castle of her enemy where she meets a young and fearsome Merlon. With the power of sight the pair know what is to be become of them but...more

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About Anna Elliott

A longtime devotee of historical fiction and Arthurian legend, Anna Elliott was expecting her first child when she woke up from a very vivid dream of telling her mother that she was going to write a book about Modred's daughter, Isolde. She was very grateful to her daughter for being an excellent sleeper even as a newborn and allowing her the time to turn her dream into a finished book! She now li...more

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