The Frewyn Herald: Home of the Haanta Series

An  epistolary novel, for those who are unaware of the term,  is a  novel  written as a series of documents, usually through diary entries. Although the aforementioned titles are not fictional, they do read as though they could have been. Epistolary novels such as  The History of Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and Pamela were amongst Jane's favourites, and she even wrote one of her first books, Lady Susan , in the same style. Though T.H. White did not publish any epistolary work, he certainly read a great deal of it, as he had to do for his book The Age of Scandal , and subsequently fell in love with the time period during which this style of novel was most prevalent.  Jane's letters, comprised of daily accounts directed to her sister Cassandra, her publisher Mr Barry, her niece Fanny Knight, her best friend Martha Lloyd, and her friend Jame Stanley Clarke, detail everything about her world but little about her personal sentiments. Ca...

My favourite cover of the book by John Howe Many are aware of this book without realizing it. If you know Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" then you know T.H. White's "Once and Future King", and while many are acquainted with the first book in this series, not many have read all five. The Sword in the Stone was re-edited and re-written when the books were collected the first time, The Book of Merlyn was only discovered among T.H. White's effects and published posthumously, and though many people would peg this as just another Arthurian retelling, it certainly stands out as the best in my mind. Every detail of the legends is recaptured, but what makes this retelling different is- at last- Arthur is depicted as the king who never wanted to rule, surrounded by knights who have personal issues, supported by a teacher who is tormented due to his knowing everything that must happen to Arthur and is powerless to shield him from all ill-will.  I missed out...