The staff has very good reason to arrange romance in the fashionable, yet rumored haunted, townhouse. They're paid a pittance by the property manager and must supplement their incomes; what better way? However, they are soon embroiled in a mess! Penniless Harriet is named guardian to snobbish and hateful twin sisters. Harriet arranges suitors for the sisters and soon the gentlemen see only Harriet's charms! A cruel betrayal will be her ruin unless the servants can save her honor when she loses her heart.

Marion has written an excellent insight into the experience of flying. As a fellow pilot, I greatly enjoyed reading about the experiences of Marion and the other women pilots during WWII. The story is filled with joy and tragedy splashed across her story of becoming a military pilot. Just as important as the flying, she relates how she came to marry her husband of over 50 years, Ned Hodgson. This is a wonderful book that anyone interested in flying and the romance of the air should read.

When a person is asked to describe a witch,the first image that comes to mind is an aged hag with a steeple crowned hat.However,this was not always the rule.The 'witch' in this tale is one such exception.Unorna,the witch is beautiful,with her red gold hair and her well proportioned features who resides in a mansion,and spends the winter in the huge conservatory surrounded by lofty palms and tropical plants.Her most remarkable feature is her eyes,which are of different colours and her ability to use them to hypnotise people and make them not only her slaves but to see what she wanted them to see or even forget their past.Despite her powers,she is not an inherently evil person but her love for the wanderer drives her to desperate measures to destroy her rival for his affections.She also has strange dealings with Keyork Arabian,who is attempting to prolong life through his experiments.This book might as well be called the Wizard rather than the Witch as Keyork Arabian is the most evil character in the book. This book is very interesting to read not only for the story and the marvellous descriptions but also for the author's in depth analysis of the powers of the human mind and her interpretation of the relation of the soul to the body.This is not a middle age romance as electricity is often mentioned in the book. A parallel can be drawn between this book and the classic by Gaston Leroux namely The Phantom of the Opera.Both the phantom and Unorna represent that part of us which seeks to be loved for ourselves and the great extent we can go in pursuance of that objective.Another similarity between the stories is that both characters have to make an important choice and redeem themselves by it.

Ce livre est d'un intérêt véritable car c'est l'un des seuls à mettre en évidence la différence des sexes du point de vue des habitudes alimentaires. Les auteurs prennent également en compte l'âge et l'appartenance sociale pour montrer les variations de consommation entre les hommes et les femmes. Les pratiques décrites portent avant tout sur les représentations et les exigences féminines : Bien manger, bien nourrir les autres (les hommes et les enfants). Ces prescriptions alimentaires se doivent d'être en conformité avec une alimentation bonne pour la santé, bonne pour la ligne, bonne pour le goût. Tout l'intérêt du livre est de montrer comment les femmes composent le répertoire alimentaire familial entre les prescriptions d'une bonne alimentation et l'origine social, la différence d'âge et de sexe qui modifient l'idéal alimentaire qu'elle souhaite offrir.

Simple recipes with fabulous results. We got a couple of real main staple recipes from this that are good for you and easy and they are very tasty!

Hope they reprint this one!

I was a bit skeptical when I first purchased this book. In order for me to read science fiction, the storyline has to grab me. Well, this book definitely grabbed my attention. In the TRAITOR'S SUN, Regis Hastur has passed away, leaving Mikhail Hastur, his heir, as the new regent of Darkover. Mikhail must once again face opposition from some of the members of the domains and go against a new threat from the Terran Federation. We learn about other characters aswell, especially about Marguerida and Mikhail's oldest son, Domenic. Because I wanted to learn more about the Darkover series, I also purchased the two books before this one, EXILE'S SONG which took place fifteen years earlier and introduced us to an adult Marguerida Alton and Mikhail Hastur and THE SHADOW MATRIX in which Marguerida and Mikhail go back in time and Mikhail inherits a great power. These are also fantastic books. I cannot wait for the next addition to this amazing saga.

TRAITOR'S SUN is filled with sci-fi action and with enough of a romantic twist to keep you enthralled. I recommend this book and it's predecessors. You'll love it. Trust me!

This exciting new novel is set 15 years after THE SHADOW MATRIX and is a direct sequel to it. While the Premier of the Terran Federation suspends the legislature of the Federation and tries to establish a tyrannical rule, Lyle Belfontaine, the Terran station chief on Darkover, plots to grab control over Darkover by force. But his plans do not remain a secret and the Comyn have their own plans to meet Belfontaines conspiracy. Regis Hastur, who suffered a stroke at the beginning of the book, is unable to lead the Comyn, so Mikhail and Marguerida take over, despite the heavy opposition of the Comyn Council. The Darkovans have to struggle hard to rescue their world, because they not only have to fight against the Terrans, but they also have a traitor in their own midst. This book is full of wonderful, engaging and powerful characters. It has a complex and interesting story (that ends with the most important historical event since the rediscovery of Darkover). It is extremely fast-paced; all the action takes place within a tenday. And finally it is a real page-turner. No fan of Darkover or Marion Zimmer Bradley would want to miss this new chapter in the history of Darkover. It's great!!!

Marion Zimmer Bradley has been getting better and better through the years, and this latest series (Exile's Song, The Shadow Matrix, and Traitor's Sun) is my favorite of all the Darkover material. I care about even more of the characters than I did in earlier books, and I find the action most satisfying. I bought these books in hardback, since I just couldn't wait till they came out in paperback, and I've read them 3 or 4 times already, each time with enormous satisfaction. I particularly like the beginning of this book; remembering it is almost enough to make me get the book out and begin it again. I earnestly hope MZB has not stopped writing these. I want to know what happens to Alanna, Domenic, Mik, Marguerida, and the young Traveller girl.

I just didn't GET this book...the three ladies who wrote it are, as far as I'm concerned, three of the most important female fantasy writers of all time. Yet I simply couldn't get into this book. The writing styles were just too different, and the story moved too slowly...this is a danger of multiple perspectives: the authors must backtrack to catch "their" character up to the others, and the reader is left slogging through a 400-page mess. I think that if this book had been a little better organized (and the characters a bit more believable) I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, it just left me with this vauge headache and the need to go back, re-read certain passages, and finall, put the book down and not come back to it.

this book had me bored to tears. i literally threw this book down a few times wondering when things were going to culminate? everything is tediously described three times by three different characters. three generations of a royal family are seen through three women of this royal house; the old queen, the middle aged heir and the young princess. in that it's pretty standard but instead of moving this story, which at its heart is wonderful, every scene is retold through each character's eyes with barely any variance.

this story of a kingdom threatened by an invading emperor who lusts for conquest sounded pretty interesting to me. his son, who the reader finds quickly is really loving and wishes for peace, is in this kingdom to help conqueror it. the three main characters, through who the story is told, are the queen, the heir and the young princess. the queen is aging and must pass on the throne but cannot when they are all forced to flee into hiding by the invaders. this summary is brief but the story is closely connected with the characters and i don't want to hand out to many teasers.

at the begginning of the book i was intrigued by the idea of this mystical kingdom with hidden secrets and mysterious rituals but by the third chapter i was wondering when something was going to happen to already. "tiger burning bright" hints that angels may play a very important role but then abruptly ignores the subject leaving the reader wondering why the lengthy description if they play no real role?

chapter after chapter is devoted to what every character is thinking, feeling, wearing and what they plan to do but never actually do. build up is all well and go and i am a never ending fan of suspense, holding it as critical part of a story but between three authors one would think that all this suspense was leading somewhere.

the long awaited ending was something i wouldn't call overly original, reading instead like some trashy romance novel. i knew who would end up with who by the fifth chapter and kept wondering when it would happen already. though many like the story line and i found i liked certain scenes or detail/ideas in the book overall i found it a dissappointing if not completely tiresome read.

Once again, three of the leading science fiction/fantasy authors have shown their mettle. The characters in this book are both believable and riveting. It is so refreshing to see strong women in leading roles in a story which does not depend on their gender to move the story. I would hardily reccommend this book to anyone who enjoys books about intrigue, fantasy, adventure or human relationships for it contains elements of all these. I read the book in one night because I literally could not put it down without having the urge to pick it back up

Marion Zimmer Bradley illuminated my world when I was a teen, when I read Mists of Avalon. I've read all the books of the serie, in french and english (I speak french). After reading the Avalon Cycle serie, I've realized that every stories Bradley wrote was the same: She changed names and places in Britain, but the story is always the same. Always a foreign Savior in love with a priestess that will bore their child of the Prophecy.
I think Bradley was obsessed and fascinated with Arthurian myths, so am I. But she never did serious researches for her writings about them, until the last decade. So I believe she began to be interested by the 'real' history much later in her life, after The Mists of Avalon.
And The Priestess of Avalon is her final cut, with too much of history (names, places...), probably because scholars didn't think Bradley was a serious writer and discredited her. I think she was obsessed now with the credibility of her stories and she loses all the magic... and the mists!

So, shortly, as a fan, Priestess of Avalon doesn't worth the buying. But if you fall on it, read it. But nothing is new and I've guessed everything from the beginning to the end.

I'll read and read and read The Mists of Avalon again and again.

P.S. The TNT special series was pathetic and didn't look what I thought. Too bad.

I am so sad to realise that this is the final Avalon book.It's also hard for me to guess whether or not a reader who isn't INTO the old Celtic religions would find this an interesting read, but for me, it was another wonderful, absorbing and magical read involving the occupants of the mystical island of Avalon and the gentle, loving form of their religion.A young priestess, Eilan, falls in love with a handsome Roman soldier named Constantius, and forsakes her home on Avalon for love of him and also because she believes that her future is inextricably bound with his.
She bears a son who becomes the Emperor Constantine who eventuually caused the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity.Eilan,or the Empress Helena as she is known when she becomes the mother of the Emperor,somewhat reluctantly accepts Christianity as she realises that much of the new religion is based on the old and, because of pressure from her son, tours his Empire on his behalf. As a very old lady, she stages her own death in order to return to her true home, the Isle of Avalon.As always when I read books about Avalon, I feel a tremendous sense of deja vu....perhaps in a former life???

Of course, Priestess of Avalon isn't really part of the lot. For the most part, it's a story tangential to the Avalon epic. I also suspect Diana Paxson did a lot of the filling in of Marion Zimmer Bradley's dream of the tale. Take it in this context--as a book about Avalon but not really part of any series--and perhaps this novel will have a different meaning.

The idea proposed to us the readers is that Eilan (Helena in the Roman world), a priestess of Avalon, falls in love and runs away with Constantius, a Roman. He existed, by the way. Somehow through her travels in the Empire (after all, her patroness is Elen of the Ways), Helena gains a wisdom and an understanding. She gives birth to Constantine, the Roman emperor who embraced Christianity. Eilan, through it all, begins to see where all religions and paths are reflections of a greater truth. Sometime after the book ends this Eilan/Helena is canonized as Saint Helena. In short, it's a detailed autobiography of a fascinating figure of a woman.

I can see where Mists devotees would be disappointed by this book. After all, only a small part of it actually takes place in Avalon. But does Eilan need to have spent her entire life on the island to be a priestess of Avalon? It seemed to me that she spread and shared the wisdom she learned on Avalon with people all over the Empire. If that doesn't make her a worthy heir to the Avalon legacy, nothing does.

Having read every previous novel including Sword of Aldones (which, by the way, seems to me better than its replacement Sharra's Exile, I liked Dio's role in it), I heard tell of Exile's Song and thought "wow! Great! More Darkover after all!". I was disappointed. The only interesting element in this is the presence of the shadow matrix. Everything else was just rehashing the Ashara Is Revealed As An Amoral Manipulator plotline from "Sharra's Exile". Plus, I was really annoyed with the threshold sickness thing. How many times do we have to have this described? Although it's true that the characters don't know about threshold sickness, it would be nice to fans to give some variety to the disease. This nasty form was well done in "heritage" already. Let's have something new, for once: how about a terran who comes to darkover and is (gasp) NOT telepathic?

I have been reading and enjoying Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series for several years now. I purchased this book on the strength of knowing that I have never been disappointed by a MZB novel. Although this book did not disappoint me I felt that it was slightly rough around the edges. It is a novel in a series that has "Series Novel Syndrome". SNS being the problem wherein if one has not read the previous volumes then one will miss miss major points of "historical" fact that are key to some of the major points of the story. Although I have read all of the previous novels I found myself having to recall several previous Darkover story lines in order to follow this somewhat convoluted plot. I loved the book and recommend it to any Darkover fans but newbies to Darkover beware, you should read at least "Sharra's Exile" first to get the most out of this novel. "Sharra's Exile" by the way is a wonderful novel and is MZB at her very best

Actually this is the first of the Darkovan books I had read. It was just sitting there so I decided on reading it. I think that if I'd starting reading the first of the Darkover books, Darkover Landfall then I wouldn't have read all the rest of the books. Marguerida Alton travels to the planet known to Terrans as Cottman IV with her mentor Ivor Davidson to collect folk music. They are really in for a surprise! All the new people they meet is awesome! But tragedy comes, Ivor dies. That's when the real adventure comes! Knowing nothing of her history Marguerida is surprised and frustrated. She is bowed to and everyone calls her "domna" which means highly honored lady. Marguerida decides to ignore it as best she can. Instead of finding why this is she finds an uncle, goes with her friend and guide Rafaella n'ha Liriel to collect folk music. She has a bout of threshold sickness and has to be taken to a castle where she falls in love with Mikhail Lanart Hastur! Her newly awakened laran is powerful and she gets a shadow matrix from the overworld. Her Uncle Gabriel moves her to Armida and that creates a number of problems. Her father comes to meet her! Read this and then find out the details and what else happens in Marguerida's new and exciting life!

What a great opportunity a Woody Allen biography represents. Here's one of the great masters of American cinema, an artist who has been producing prolifically for over thirty years. Before our eyes, he went through mastering various cinematic styles and then transcending them all, contributing as a philosopher, writer, comedian, actor, director, even musician. Along the way, Allen produced a body of work replete with a quality all too rare in any, particularly American motion pictures: a thinking, interesting approach. The audiences and critics speak for themselves: here's a true visionary.

Unfortunately, those who make a name for themselves are destined to attract parasites. Enters Marion Meade, the voyeur. Unable to create worthwhile art or even advancing the cause of understanding it better or enjoying it more intelligently, she has nothing to offer that's pertinent to the art of Woody Allen. What she does offer is plenty of gossip and garbage. After having the Allen-Farrow "scandal" publicly dished out for too long, who needs more of this? Is it really a surprise to anyone after watching W.A. movies that the man should have character flaws, past pain and ongoing neuroses. Isn't the genius of his work to allow us to identify so readily with his character?

If you need gossip to make yourself feel superior to a man who has had something genuinely great to offer, then don't pass this one up. If you prefer some degree of integrity in your writing, and are desirous to learn about subjects worth remembering, avoid this one at all cost.

I've always wondered why people would bother to spend considerable amounts of time and energy researching, interviewing, compiling facts and writing biographies of people they obviously intensely dislike. Marion Meade's disdain for Woody Allen is almost palpable on every page of this book. Basically, she presents Allen as a contemptible, meanspirited, self-absorbed, self-loathing misanthrope capable of teutonic cruelty and with nary a redeeming quality. So the question is: why bother? Sure, her subject is full of flaws (big surprise) and probably won't be publishing a guide to successful relationships anytime soon, but he does deserve better than this. That said, this book isn't your usual Kitty Kelley trash. It is meticulously researched and gracefully written, at times insightful and illuminating and extensively annotated. The author has done her homework and written this book with considerable effort and care. However, I couldn't get over the fact that she seems to more or less hate Woody Allen, even while describing the factors in his childhood and background that might have led to the behavior she condemns. This is, however, the best of all the Woody Allen biographies (the others were poorly researched or simply sycophantic), and worth reading, if one reads with an open mind.

I recommend this biography to anyone interested in film, in celebrity, in what it means to be a public figure, and in what it means to be an artist. You do not have to be interested in Allen per se to admire the craftsmanship of this book. Meade tells her story well, and in this case an unauthorized biography seems the best way to capture this aloof filmmaker and his hermetic personality. Anyone purporting to give the "inside" story of Woody Allen is probably purveying a fiction. It takes a shrewd biographer working from the outside to see the Woody Allen phenomenon with clarity.