Arthurian legend with a twist

Arthurian legend isn’t a subject I’d consciously given any thought to before receiving
Felicity Pulman’s book Shalott: Into the Unknown. As the book lingered untouched on my bedside table, my primary school memories of loving the story of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table started emerging. I was especially infatuated with beautiful Guinevere, King Arthur’s wife and noble queen, falling in love with Arthur’s bravest and most loyal knight, Lancelot. It sounded so romantic and risqué to my strict Catholic schooled mind.  I’m sure these memories would have remained buried were it not for Felicity Pulman’s book. 

Felicity has a fascination for fantasy, historical fiction, Arthurian legend and the idea of knowledge travelling through time. These themes are on display in her book and so are her impressive story telling skills. The time travelling element put me in mind of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series (admittedly not from reading them but watching the television series – be still my beating heart at the memory of Jamie Fraser with his shirt off!).

Shalott tells the story of Callie, an artistic loner who decides to use her father’s virtual reality technology to try and save Camelot by making Lancelot fall in love with the Lady of Shalott instead of Queen Guinevere and thereby prevent a change of events that would lead to the destruction of Camelot. Simultaneously Callie wants to win her father’s approval and admiration for achieving this instead of him being one-eyed in his praise for Callie’s twin sister El. 

Things go awry when El interferes and, along with El’s friend Meg and two school chums Stephen and Lev, they all end up travelling back through time and confronting numerous dilemmas that keep you page-turning. You need to suspend judgment about how they went back in time but once you’ve done that the book is so well researched you become utterly immersed in the story and the time. 

This extract from the book when Callie’s teacher is trying to get her disinterested students to understand why the legend of King Arthur is worthy of their attention spoke to me about issues that are timeless and remain important to the world right now.

“Essentially, the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table remains popular because it reflects the timeless struggle between high ideals and human nature. It challenges what we believe about our own society and about ourselves, calling into question our personal notions of faith, honour, duty and courage. Like Arthur in his pursuit of a perfect society, we also need to reach an understanding of our own world and our place in it – how we live our lives and how we can reach our full potential.” 

Felicity has written five books for children and, on my count twenty books for young and not so young adults. That’s a prodigious output on any-one’s count. I feel embarrassed to have been unaware of this talented author, until now. And to think this successful writer from our Northern Beaches didn’t take writing seriously until she was in her mid-40s – there’s hope for us late starters yet!