Lancelot and the Lord of the Distant Isles: Or, the Book of Galehaut Retold

by Patricia Terry and Samuel N. Rosenberg

Book Overview

A retelling of the 13th-century French legend of Lancelot and the mutual love between him and Galehaut, Lord of the Distant Isles.

Retellings of the Old French story of King Arthur, Guenevere, and Lancelot have left out a fourth figure amongst these legendary star-crossed lovers, the man who loved the knight, Lancelot. He was Galehaut, a mortal enemy of Arthur, and the invincible Lord of the Distant Isles. And he was Guenevere's rival...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567923240
• ISBN13: 9781567923247
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Riviting page turner- Lancelot and the Lord of the Distant Isles

This vividly retold story is a real page turner. I read it in one sitting, rivited. The setting, the mood, the sense of time, and most of all the main characters are facinating, engaging and inspire one to read on, to find out what will happen next in this exciting epic tale. All the classic issues of our current world are expertly addressed in this 13th century story- devotion, honor, discipline, faith, love, seperation, and death. Especially crafted are the sections illustrating the extraordinary love between Galehaut and Lancelot, and how both are inspired and challenged by it. Homo-eroticism is apparent in their love, but the text is so expertly handled by the translators that the overriding truth of their admiration for one another is not diluted by a notion that their love was singular in focus at all. I recommend this marvelous retelling of Lancelot and the Lord of the Distant Isles to all. We are fortunate to have such exciting parts of this grand tale so wonderfully conveyed.

Beautiful story, beautifully told.

I read this book the way I read as a child: completely absorbed, carrying the book from room to room, feeling outside of time and space, afraid to see the last pages coming. This part of the Arthurian story is not so familiar to most of us; I am grateful to the authors (eminent medieval scholars and translators) for having remedied that situation with so much grace and perceptiveness. Their version is lively, engaging, heartfelt and deeply moving, without ever being sentimental. I would think a very broad public would love this book.