Queen of the Lightning was winner of

the 1983 Historical Novel Prize,awarded

annually in England in memory of

Georgette Heyer

It is A.D. 641. Britain is a land of warring

tribes, of small kingdoms that fiercely

guard their sovereignty, not only from

each other bnt also from bands of robbers

who roam the countryside. Cumbria, with

its misty mountains and faerie landscape,

is governed by a great Celtic dynasty. A

brave and mighty line of warriors has

dwindled to one last princess, heiress to

the crown: Riemmelth, Qneen of the

Lightning. Before the old King dies, he

knows he must safeguard Cumbria from

border wars and internal feuding. And the

only way to do that is to wed Riemmelth,

his granddaughter, to one of the hated

English. They are brash, crude new-

comers, but only they--especially Oswy

of Northumbria--can maintain peace in

the land.

So Riemmelth, in love with one man,

must marry another: an enemy she has

been taught to hate all her life. The

stormy nnion between Riemmelth and

Oswy, set against the bloody battles,

magical legends, and flowery chivalry of

the times, is the final l inkthat fnses Celtic,

English, and Rotman blood into tire first

great British civilization of the Darl Ages.