The Corn King and the Spring Queen

Originally published in 1931, this dense, epic-length fantasy is a quest story cunningly woven of history and myth. Erif Der, a witch in a Black Sea land, falls in love with the king whom she was supposed to topple. As Spring Queen, she takes revenge on her scheming father, introduces death into the cycle of the seasons and must seek purification of her soul. Another seeker is Kleomenes, rebel king of Sparta, who is willing to put up his own children and his mother as hostages for the sake of the revolution in which he fervently believes. Berris Der, brother of Erif and an adventurous painter-sculptor hopelessly in love with a Spartan woman, represents a third type of quester. There are many others in a crowded canvas stretching from Asia Minor to Egypt. In scenes of beauty and power, Mitchison breathes life into such perennial themes as courage, forgiveness, the search for meaning, and self-sacrifice. (May)