Merryll of the Stones

by Brian Caswell

Orphaned by an automobile accident in Australia, fifteen-year-old Megan returns to her family's native Wales where, with the help of a new friend, she discovers her true destiny and the meaning of her terrifying dreams.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Adventure, Childrens

251 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Brian Caswell was born in Wales and moved to Australia at the age of twelve. He began his working life as a teacher, resigning in 1990 to become a full-time writer.
His first novel, Merryll of the Stones, was Honour Book (Older Readers) in the 1990 Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards. He has since published three more books, A Dream of Stars (1991), A Cage of Butterflies (1992), which was short-listed in the 1993 Children's Book Council Awards, and Mike (1993) his first novel for younger readers. Two further novels, Dreamslip and Lisdalia, are scheduled for publication in 1994.

Reviews

[Anne Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

After Megan Ellison is orphaned in a car accident, she leaves Sydney to go to Wales to live with her Uncle Nigel and Aunt Gayna. Almost immediately she antagonises her cousin Cathlin by attracting the interest of a local boy, Emlyn Rowan.

Emlyn takes one glance at Megan and spontaneously identifies her as Merryll, a queen from the mists of history who, well over two millennia previously, had battled a tyrannical ruler to free the people of the surrounding valleys. He invites her to come to a stone circle called the "Druid Ring" and later loans her history books that pertain to the legend. As she reads them, she senses they are connected to the nightmarish dreams she's been having.

At the local school, Cathlin and her gang are making Megan's life increasingly difficult. Exploding with anger, Megan finds some strange power awakening in her. She can make herself invisible.

Emlyn takes her to see a friend of his, an eccentric old man, who shows her a book of runes. Megan is able to instantly read them and, as she does, they disappear on the page - absorbed into her. She is indeed Merryll, sent through the stream of time to protect her from those who seek her life, with an ancient Gift of power blossoming inside her. In the legends, Gruffydd the Betrayer killed her to foil the plans of the evil sorceror-king who had invaded her lands on the death of her father. But she remembers the truth: Gruffydd found a way to send her into the future so that she could grow up and come into the Gift when it revealed itself in her life. She realises that, at the moment he did so within the ring of stones, hiding there was the boy Kelwin, one of her loyal subjects come to warn her of approaching armies. Kelwin has become Emlyn. And much as she is attracted to him and as he professes his love for her, she feels compelled to speak the Spell of Returning and go back in time to save her people from the sorceror-king.

She's read the legend, as has Emlyn, and she knows that if she goes, they will never see each other again. And so she goes to become Merryll, and to learn to be both a queen and a Gift-wielder, and to fulfill the demands of history. But as Gruffydd is quick to point out as he teaches her the use of power: what's written as history and what actually happened might be two different things.

[K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot summary: 15 year old Megan Ellison is the sole survivor of the car accident that killed her parents. When she leaves Sydney to live with her uncle and aunt in a small Welsh village, she meets Emlyn, a boy with whom she feels a bizarre connection. Together, Megan and Emlyn discover that sometimes, history is not as much in the past as it seems.

Thoughts: I LOVED this book as a kid. Like, read the words off the page loved it. Fifteen years later, it doesn't have quite the same appeal. It's still a great story, and the historical section of the story was really enjoyable. But the 'modern' section feels dated - not surprising, given its pre-internet publication date!

[Shazza Maddog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Megan's parents died in a car accident, leaving her an orphan in Australia. Her uncle, living in Wales, offers to take her in. It is there the dreams she's been having all her life start to make sense - dreams of somehow falling up, dreams of strange things happening. And even the vision of a young man she meets in Wales, Emlyn, who has similar dreams.

Megan, it seems, is actually Merryll, daughter of King Iestyn, dead over 2000 years in the past. And Merryll disappeared by magic within a ring a standing stones, only to return seven years later to defeat a rival king, ushering in a time of peace. But Megan doesn't know how to go back in time -

- at least not until Em introduces her to the local crazy guy, who happens to have a book of runes older than the hills...

[Seldear · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I have a fondness for this book, having read it as a teenager back in the 90s. The story of magic gained and magic lost, of power and the isolation it brings, of intimacy and restraint, is something from an era past in the present run of heroines who are not only Chosen to overthrow but also Chosen to lead. Megan's final acknowledgement that what "the future" (our present) might need is 'magic' - that her two worlds must be balanced - is something that isn't really appreciated in our throwaway-the-old society.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great young adult (historical) fantasy novel without being too fantastical (nor too historical). Throw some time travel into some classic sword and sorcery fantasy with a modern twist and you'll get some of the idea?
I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, I feel like there could have been more to it, however it was an entertaining, quick read with some decent thought put into it.

[Penelope Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old favourite that holds up with some reasonably complex themes and questions for a young adult book

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliantly written time travel novel based partly in modern Wales but mostly in the ancient mythological past.

[Amber]

fun fact: i was meant to read this in my reading extension/book club when i was in yr 6 but no one in the class read it, the teacher got mad at us, and they discontinued the class. lol

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book at the age of 16, when the school library had money to spend on fiction they had the library volunteers (students) pick books or have access to them first (can't remember now) and this was a book which I picked up. For whatever reason, possibly a history of liking these sorts of books (eg Playing Beatie Bow) I really liked it...

Premise: The lead character (Megan Ellson), wakes from a coma with strange dreams, the ability to speak Welsh (a language she does not know) and that her parents were killed in the accident that put her in the coma. With no relatives in Australia, she is sent to live with an aunt, uncle and cousin in Wales whom she knows of only vaguely. She struggles and there are barriers / conflict including her cousin being a popular girl who is not friendly towards her. But she meets Em, an intelligent, socially different and somewhat rebellious teen about the same age as her. Together, they discover some legends that are connected to Megan's dreams.

The book may struggle to translate to the now (eg no phones or internet). And whether I would rate it the same as an adult now, I am not sure. However 16 year old me (about the same age as the main character) identified with her and I loved the interwoven legends into real world story...

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is apparently not very well-known, and I had a hard time finding it. I'm glad I kept at it, because I really enjoyed it. It deals with an ancient (i.e., even before the Druids) time in Wales, and with a young girl of Welsh descent who lives in modern-day Australia. The tale of how modern-day Meg becomes entangled with the Merryl of legends is a fascinating story that would be accessible to younger young-adults, but has enough action and thought-provoking conflicts to keep older young-adults intrigued too.

[Tylee Pippen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books!!

I read this in high school and it always stayed with me. I've now tracked down my own copy and have reread it and enjoyed it as much as the first time!

The story caught my attention and the characters were real - heartbreak, happiness and tough choices to be made to bring about growth for them.

[Clare Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this as a kid and read it over and over.

[Manda]

We studied this in class when I was in Year 5 and I adored it. All the stories I wrote for the next couple of years were about girls losing their parents in car accidents and discovering their mysterious, magical heritage.