The Forest House

The Forest House is a fantasy novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley & Diana L. Paxson, the latter uncredited by the publisher. It's a prequel to her best-selling Arthurian novel The Mists of Avalon. The plot is based on that of the opera Norma, relocated from Gaul to Britain, but sharing the basic plot outline of a love affair between a Druidic priestess & a Roman officer.
The Forest House is set in the 1st century CE in West Britain, which was then part of the Roman Empire. Bradley wrote of the conquest of the Celtic tribes & the political & religious implications of the occupation. The novel revolves around the Druidic priestesses who serve the Goddess & keep the ancient rites of learning, healing & magic lore in their sanctuary, The Forest House. The forbidden love between the priestess Eilan & the Roman officer Gaius is one of the book's principal story lines. Bradley tells the story from both the British, female, druidic perspective, & the Roman, male, legionary perspective, & does so without apparent prejudice, in a style characteristic of her Avalon Series. The complexity of the plot & characters in this novel is less than that of The Mists of Avalon.

Author: Marion Zimmer 

Publisher:  Penguin

Released Date: 1993

ISBN: 9780140177213