Marion Zimmer Bradley in her novel, Priestess of Avalon, tells the story of a girl named Eilan and follows her for her life story. Princess Eilan is the daughter of Rian, priestess of the holy isle of Avalon, and Prince Coelius of Camulodunum in Britannia, circa 300 A.D. When her mother dies giving birth to Eilan, her father raises her in the Roman manner. Then war threatens Camulodunum, Princess Eilan is sent to Avalon to learn the ways of the priestesses of the Old Religion, the pagan beliefs that in that time period still hold sway in much of the British Isles. Hidden behind the ghostly mists of magical Avalon, Eilan grows into early womanhood as a priestess of the Old Religion. But then she becomes attracted to Constantius, a Roman officer with ambitions to greatness. Defying the orders of her aunt Ganeda, the Lady of Avalon, Eilan takes the place of another priestess and partners with Constantius in a sexual rite destined to create a Child of Prophecy.…
