elicity Jones has a gift – an odd trick of knowing how things will turn out before they happen. But when she goes to England with her mother, who's researching a book on King Arthur, mysterious events unfold in a way that even Felicity couldn't have predicted. The Grail legend springs to life and she's drawn into its magic.
a “beautifully written tale.... Any student who enjoys time travel, fantasy, or Arthurian legend will consume this story quickly and be sorry to see it end.” — VOYA
“This is a complicated but absorbing tale of a teen with ESP....” — School Library Journal
“A lively read that combines mystery, myth, and magic....” — Booklist
“...a new twist on the Arthurian legend....” — Kirkus Reviews
n 1976, I enrolled in a graduate seminar on the Arthurian legend at the University of South Dakota. Although I found the subject fascinating, I was at a loss when I had to choose a research topic; Professor Thomas Gasque came to my rescue: “Look into the Grail legend and Glastonbury Tor,” he suggested. What emerged was a report entitled, “Joseph of Arimathea and Avalon”— and a lifelong passion for anything Arthurian.
I went on to write a master’s thesis on novelist Doris Lessing, but Avalon had captured my heart. Over the next ten years, I read and reread Arthurian fiction and non-fiction, poetry and romance. Finally in 1986, I started work on my first young adult novel — The Last Grail Keeper, a story about a reluctant young seer named Felicity Jones and the sinister Geoffrey Mordreaut. I finished a preliminary draft in 1993, but on the advice of a very wise editor, I filed it away and started writing something else. Felicity’s story wasn’t ready yet. It needed more time in the cauldron.
But her story stayed with me, and so did the idea of Grail Keepers, a long line of women trained in ancient mysteries, the tantalizing magic that shimmers just below the surface of virtually all Arthurian stories — from the Lady of the Lake, who gives young Arthur his sword, to the three queens, who bear the dying king to the Isle of Avalon.
The idea of Grail maidens came straight out of Sir Thomas Malory, who gives his readers glimpses of beautiful young women who understand the Grail’s mysteries when Arthur’s knights do not. I also adapted ideas from author Joseph Campbell. He maintained that the archetype behind the Holy Grail was probably Celtic — and perhaps even pre-Celtic. These two fragmentary ideas became the foundation for The Last Grail Keeper.
If indeed the Grail was Celtic, then it would have been a cauldron, not an elegant, shapely cup. In Welsh and Irish mythology, cauldrons are often the source of creativity, inspiration, healing, or even life itself. Archeologists have uncovered cauldrons in Celtic sites all across Europe. In fact, the Gundestrup Cauldron, unearthed in Denmark during the 1890s, served as my inspiration for Felicity’s Grail.
The Grail’s association with the Lady of the Lake isn’t entirely my own idea. Celtic cauldrons appear to have a close connection to water, which the ancient Celts viewed as a sacred life force. Many cauldrons have been uncovered near lakes, marshes, or streams and may have been women’s ritual offerings.
I’m indebted to many writers for their originality and clarity of vision — from Sir Thomas Malory to Marion Zimmer Bradley, from Geoffrey Ashe (who graciously met with me in Glastonbury to answer my questions) to T.H. White. Especially T.H. White. Perhaps the bibliography that follows will spark your own quest to know more about the Grail and the Arthurian stories that inspired it.
Abrams, M.H., ed, et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature Revised. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1968.
Ashe, Geoffrey. Avalonian Quest. London: Fontana Paperbacks, 1984.
_______. Mythology of the British Isles. London: Methuen London, 1992.
_______.Personal interview. 12 September 1999.
_______. The Discovery of King Arthur. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1985.
_______. The Landscape of King Arthur. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1987.
_______. The Traveller’s Guide to Arthurian Britain. Glastonbury, England: Gothic Image Publications, 1997.
Bendinger, Bruce. The Copy Workshop Workbook.Chicago: The Copy Workshop, 1993.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer.The Mists of Avalon.New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1983.
Brengle, Richard, ed. Arthur King of Britain: History, Chronicle, Romance & Criticism. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts Educational Division Meredith Corporation, 1964.
Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of the Gods: Creative Mythology. Penguin Books, 1976.
Cavendish, Richard. King Arthur & The Grail: The Arthurian Legends and their Meaning. New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1979.
Christian, Catherine. The Pendragon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1978.
Cunliffe, Barry. The Ancient Celts. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Ellis, Peter Berresford. The Ancient World of the Celts. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1998.
_______. The Druids. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994.
Fortune, Dion. Glastonbury: Avalon of the Heart. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 2000.
Goodrich, Norma Lorre. The Holy Grail. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
Howard-Gordon, Frances. Glastonbury: Maker of Myths. Glastonbury, England: Gothic Image Publications, 1997.
Green, Miranda J. The World of the Druids. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
Lacy, Norris J., ed. The Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1986.
Loomis, Roger Sherman. The Development of Arthurian Romance. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1970.
Malory, Sir Thomas. Le Morte D’Arthur. Vol. 1. New York: Penguin Books, 1986.
_______. Le Morte D’Arthur. Vol. 2. New York: Penguin Books, 1976.
Markale, Jean. Women of the Celts. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International, Ltd., 1975.
Stewart, Mary. The Crystal Cave. New York: William Morrow and Company Inc., 1970.
_______. The Last Enchantment. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1979.
_______. The Wicked Day. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1983.
Sutcliff, Rosemary. The Road to Camlann. New York: Puffin Books, 1981.
_______. The Sword and the Circle. New York: Puffin Books, 1981.
White, T.H. The Once And Future King. New York: Berkeley Medallion Books, 1966.
Woolley, Persia. Child of the Northern Spring. New York: Poseidon Press, 1987.
_______. Guinevere: The Legend in Autumn. New York: Poseidon Press, 1991.
_______. Queen of the Summer Stars. New York: Poseidon Press, 1990.
The Last Grail Keeper
Holiday House
(Hardcover) 2001
Felicity Jones describes Glastonbury Tor as a “big, hulking mass against the sky.” Is this Avalon? Felicity’s mom thinks so.
Pamela Smith Hill visits Cadbury Castle, a hilltop fort associated with Camelot and King Arthur.
This thatched-roof cottage in Glastonbury has a view of the Tor from its back terrace, just like Maiden’s Cottage.
Felicity and her mom have “a huge (and nutritious) lunch” at this cafe in Glastonbury.