Even the Loch Ness monster makes an appearance in this kaleidoscopic epic with deep roots in both history and myth.
The third book in a series set in sixth-century Celtic Britain puts powerful women in the foreground of an ensemble including the historical characters of Merlin and Arthur.
“After the Battle of the Caledonian Wood, as our celebration had cooled to embers, I’d listened with a tortured sort of rapture as Angharad described what had become of her as a child all those winters ago, in the Battle of Arderydd.” It is 580 C.E.; Languoreth, Queen of Strathclyde, twin sister of Lailoken (later known as Myrddin, or Merlin), has just been reunited with the mystically gifted daughter she’s believed dead for years. Once the truth of the events surrounding Angharad’s disappearance emerges, long-awaited justice will be served, powered in part by the 17-year-old Wisdom Keeper’s supernatural abilities. Those who have read The Lost Queen (2018) and The Forgotten Kingdom (2020) will be right at home as Pike continues her chronicle of the swirling intrigue and bloody confrontations among the Britons, Picts, Scots, Angles, Christians, and other kingdoms and ethnicities of the Arthurian period. Languoreth will again be separated from her daughter as the latter journeys into the “Shadowed Lands” to apprentice herself to the weatherworking druid Briochan, and though she’d love to visit her pregnant daughter, Gladys, in a neighboring kingdom, her husband insists she stay at home to monitor the machinations of a malign Christian monk named Mungo. To top it off, she has renounced the solace of her affair with the warrior Maelgwn Pendragon: “I am a woman of the Old Way, married to a Christian. Adultery is not tolerated. Should we be discovered, our people would lose an irreplicable advocate. You know as well as I, there is nothing that would delight Mungo more.” Meanwhile, Artúr mac Aedan (Arthur) must answer a call from his father to assume his destiny among the Scots. An author’s note provides historical context, includes details for readers who plan to visit the U.K. locations, and promises that there is more to come.
Even the Loch Ness monster makes an appearance in this kaleidoscopic epic with deep roots in both history and myth.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781501191480
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.
Stockett heads to Mississippi for another historical novel about feisty women.
This time, perhaps recalling criticisms of cultural appropriation in The Help (2009), she sticks to feisty white women, with one exception. The setting is Oxford in 1933. For two miserable years, 11-year-old Meg has lived in “the Orphan,” a county asylum for parentless girls. Chairlady Garnett—a villain so one-note she’d twirl a mustache if she had one—makes it her mission to ostracize the older girls she deems unadoptable, stigmatizing them as offspring of the “feebleminded” mothers who abandoned them. She particularly has it in for smart, sassy Meg, who refuses to believe her mother’s mysterious disappearance was deliberate. Elsewhere in Oxford, Birdie Calhoun comes to visit her sister Frances, who married a wealthy banker, to ask for money on behalf of their mother and grandmother back in Footely. Frances isn’t thrilled by this reminder of her impoverished small-town origins. But she’s trying to climb up in Oxford society by volunteering at the Orphan, the asylum’s books need to be done before the state inspector shows up in a few weeks, and Birdie is a bookkeeper. Having neatly arranged to keep Birdie in town and draw these two storylines together, Stockett goes on to spin a compulsively readable yarn with enough plot for a half-dozen novels. Birdie and Meg become friends, Meg is adopted despite Garnett’s best efforts, Meg’s mother turns up at the Orphan demanding to know where her child is—and that’s less than a quarter of the way through a long, winding narrative that keeps piling on more dramatic developments until all loose ends are neatly, if hastily, wrapped up in the final pages. Stockett might be making a point about Southern women facing facts and standing up for themselves, but mostly this is just a satisfyingly twisty tale that should make a great miniseries.
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781954118812
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
Simply charming.
A lovable gaggle of competitive quilters attempts to defy the odds.
The ladies of the Ogden Quilters Association are gearing up for another Simpton Family Quilting Extravaganza, and this year’s nationwide competition is extra special: It’s taking place just an hour away in Smithfield, Utah. For Betty Lou Dearden, OQA’s leader and most faithful member, who never misses a Wednesday quilting night and delights in reading the bylaws, this is a dream come true—a chance to put Utah quilting on the map. But beneath her bubbly surface, Betty Lou is struggling—longtime member Leera Smeeth has been passive aggressively shooting down Betty Lou’s ideas and attacking her sense of self for years (see: a particularly biting comment about her beloved peach bathroom); her children rarely visit; and her husband’s health is declining. And to top it off, OQA is down a member since Terry Blackfoot left following the oft-referenced but never explained “needle incident.” OQA’s remaining members—flighty but lovable Lucy Jones; dependable Diane Williams and her roommate, Alice Flagstaff; and innovative Candace Braithwaite—need more support. Enter Byron Grant, a gay sewing store manager who deals in rumor and gossip as much as in thread and batting, and his best friend, shy, artistic Rob, both younger than the youngest OQA member by about 30 years. Don’t worry, there’s nothing in the bylaws expressly prohibiting men. And so this quirky group of artisans attempts to dethrone the always-winning, clearly evil Logan Quilters Society (“We don’t hate anyone!...We just don’t prefer to associate with cheaters”), all the while wrestling with interpersonal conflict, trauma, and, let’s face it, a few tacky ideas. The plot is silly and largely predictable, but McCann’s prose is bursting at the seams with humor and genuinely tender, touching moments. You’ll root for these misfits from Page 1.
Simply charming.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9798890920461
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Torrey House Press
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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