Anne Du Lac and the King’s Birthright by Lon Torman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Anne du Lac is a wonderful Arthurian story that begins with Arthur himself! The story is set in the future, after Arthur’s passing, and is focused on the story of discovering where he hid both Excalibur and the wealth he amassed. You start out finding out that the map to its location is hidden in pieces, each of which is given into the care of separate groups, and must all be used together to locate the hidden cache.
The story jumps and we meet Anne in the future, a blind fisherman’s daughter who must help her father keep their family from starving. Things are not going well, and she jumps on a potential opportunity to keep her family from getting evicted from their land. The adventure she signs up for turns out to be much more than she expected, and draws her into the hunt for the great treasure, as well as the rise of a new King.
Anne is a likeable and sympathetic character with a lot of fighting spirit. She ends up as an unwilling traveling companion to a young military Captain, Edmond, but discovers that his honorable nature grows on her quickly. Before she knows it she’s become completely drawn into the quest, and possibly even more into him.
All the things you want in an Arthurian story — a legendary quest, buried treasure, a rise to power, romance, and the potential for more story. You should definitely give it a read.
