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147. Why Can Christians Celebrate Stories about Merlin and King Arthur? | with Robert Treskillard
Fantastical Truth Podcast, Jan 31, 2023

A Crown of Chains
Reviews, Jan 27, 2023

The Magician’s Nephew Taught Me Christ’s Compassion in the Midst of Grief
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Silver Bounty, Victoria McCombs
A Sword for the Immerland King, F. W. Faller
Calor, J. J. Fisher
Once Upon A Ren Faire, A. C. Castillo
Exile, Loren G. Warnemuende
Aberration, Cathy McCrumb
The Truth Beyond the Lies, Kathleen Bird
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Quest of Fire: Desperation, Brett Armstrong
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147. Why Can Christians Celebrate Stories about Merlin and King Arthur? | with Robert Treskillard
Fantastical Truth, Jan 31, 2023

146. How Did Animators Adapt The Wingfeather Saga For Streaming TV? | with Keith Lango
Fantastical Truth, Jan 24, 2023

145. How Did Edmund Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queene’ Shape Christian Fantasy? | with Rebecca K. Reynolds
Fantastical Truth, Jan 17, 2023

144. Which Top Six Fantasy Franchises Gave Fans Grief in 2022?
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143. Which Top Ten Lorehaven Stories Proved Most Popular in 2022?
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142. What Christmas Gift ‘Tools, Not Toys’ Helped You Grow As a Person?
Fantastical Truth, Dec 20, 2022

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A Crown of Chains
“A Crown of Chains creatively retells a biblical tale to explore themes of providence, racism, faith, and fidelity.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 27, 2023

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Prince Caspian
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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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/ Library
Author:
Paul Leone
Ages:
adult
Genres:
fantasy
BookTags:
Arthurian elves historical magic monsters
Publisher:
Indie published
Lorehaven may use referral links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
“Obscure Arthurian and Celtic references blend with biblical imagery and high heroism in this brief yet old-souled story.”
—Lorehaven review, 2022

The Governess of Greenmere

In Victorian Britain, a young woman is suddenly thrust into a strange Otherworld of magic, peril and great responsibility.
Paul Leone · fantasy for adult readers · November 2020

Britain, 1899.

Young orphan Elise Cooper applies for a job as governess. Leaving the bustling city to work for a rural aristocrat should have been peaceful, and yet… Hardly has Elise settled in at the remote Barsetshire estate of Greenmere House before she finds evidence that her employers are at the center of an ancient mystery. She quickly realizes that her understanding of history and the world around her are about to be fundamentally challenged.

Armed only with her good common sense and strange abilities she didn’t know she had, Elise finds herself pulled into a shadowy otherworld, the scene of a great battle between good and evil. Can she prove her worth and rise above the challenges, and in the process save Britain from the evil powers that lurk in the darkness?

Lorehaven may use referral links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Review of The Governess of Greenmere

Obscure Arthurian and Celtic references blend with biblical imagery and high heroism in this brief yet old-souled story.
Lorehaven Review Team, 2022

What if Arthurian legends and biblical angels secretly fought to protect Britain from evil? Paul Leone’s The Governess of Greenmere envisions such an alliance. Elise Cooper becomes governess to the young heir of Greenmere Manor, but all at the country estate is not what it seems. Strange paintings hint at other realities, and household members seem to revere peculiar saints. Before Elise can unravel these mysteries, she is whisked away to Faerie by none other than Merlin himself, who has chosen her for his heir as guardian of Britain. But can Elise’s newfound power and long-held faith stand against the dark forces arrayed against them? Obscure Arthurian and Celtic references blend with biblical imagery and high heroism in this brief yet old-souled story.

Best for: Adults and older teens as well as any fans of Arthurian fiction, older-style fantasy stories, and plucky heroines.

Discern: Discussions of limbo and its inhabitants in light of Catholic faith, heroic characters use magic against villains, vague lines between good wizards and evil witches, semi-fallen angels and elves fight for God in Faerie.

  1. notleia says:
    November 28, 2021 at 5:38 pm

    Review: I love it and I cringe at it, for it is exactly the sort of thing that I wanted to write as a mythology-obsessed, tryhard teenage dweeb, before I was crippled by self-awareness. It is a beautifully polished lump of self-indulgent escapism, unsoured by irony, that wants so desperately to be smart. It it were any other kind of wish-fulfillment fluff, I would only grant it a forgettable 3 stars, but because it gives me existential dread, I give it four out of five.
    It’s the same sort of thing as Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series, but with mystic powers carefully sanitized to suit tradcath sensibilities.

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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