From the top of the hill, I pointed out Pike Forest, but beyond that there was nothing but grey gloom, rising from the ground and falling from the sky. We couldn't see the violet hills or the shadowy shapes of the Black Mountains.
"Wales isn't there," I said, "but it is there."
"There's a word for that," said Grace, frowning.
"Paradox," I replied. "Something that seems to contradict itself."
Grace smiled. "You're a paradox," she said, and for a moment she took my arm. "Isn't there, but is there," she slowly repeated. "In that case, Wales is a matter of faith."

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On our way down to church for Terce this morning, Grace nudged me and said under her breath: "Try to find out."
"What?"
"Betrothal."
"I will," I said, "but my father never tells me anything."
Lights were dancing in Grace's eyes. "We can't often see each other," she said, "but we can still be like Wales to each other."
"What do you mean?"
"A matter of faith," said Grace.

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I love that book. Those are two excerpts from one of my favourite series about Arthur - you know, King Arthur? Well...not exactly. Its about a boy named after King Arthur but he lives many years later than King Arthur did. Late enough so that King Arthur was a tale. This boy lives in the year 1199 on the Welsh Marches and knows Merlin (I guess Merlin is impervious to time). Merlin gives this boy-named-Arthur a stone which Arthur soon finds out is a seeing stone. In it he sees the life of King Arthur unfold as a story over a number of years. Although most movies and books you see about King Arthur are set in the Middle Ages - 1200-1400? - King Arthur is actually originally set even farther back, in like...800 AD (I think the new movie they just made about King Arthur is set in the original time period). The English were still bushmen so I dont think Queen Guinevere possessed much divine beauty. Actually...back then, I guess if you were beautiful you must have been divinely beautiful because it was all natural, they didn't have a fraction of the kinds of beauty products we have now and certainly not half as advanced...

Lol, anyway, straying here. That was Arthur talking to his cousin Grace (its written in first person perspective, the perspective being Arthur's). They're only 13! Arthur is 13, and Grace is 12, they're cousins, and they want to be married (betrothed)....glad I don't live back then...no time to be children.

You should all read these books! They're amazingly written, his style is really...I dont know, it really grabs you and is very distinct. His description is short but expressive and effective, and his characters are realisitc and vivid. Also, it doesn't portray the Middle Ages as a time of prancing unicorns and pixies and princesses. Arthur finds out that his father is actually not his father but his uncle, and that his biological father killed his biological mother's husband so as to have her (complicated, yes). Consequently Arthur's hopes of marrying his cousin Grace are dashed because she is now...his sister (whoa!!). During his time as a squire at Lord Stephen's manor he hears of the dispiccable priest who has been abusing his powers. Later he goes on the crusades with Lord Stephen, and becomes terribly aware of the horrors of warfare and all the gruesome acts involved. Forget times of war! Usually life in the Middle Ages was hardly safe let alone peaceful. And cruelly, when Arthur comes back home from the crusades, his betrothed, a wilful girl named Winnie, is in love with Arthur's brother Tom.

yep, its incredible. read it!! they're written by Kevin Crossley-Holland. i need to find more of his work...this Arthur trilogy just whetted my appetite.