Australian author Felicity Pulman’s latest book is I, Morgana, a beautifully written story about King Arthur’s half-sister, a woman loved and loathed in equal measure. Just as exciting for readers, a reworked version of her brilliant six-book medieval crime/romance series The Janna Mysteries, about the daughter of a herbwife and healer being trained in the Craft, whose life is turned upside down when her mother is murdered, is being republished from January 2015. Felicity has also penned A Ring Through Time, The Shalott Trilogy, Ghost Boy, The Little Penguins of Manly and more.

You can read my interview with Felicity here, and visit her at Felicity Pulman.

Sophie Masson invited Felicity to be part of the Meet My Character Book Blog Tour, for which she wrote a great article about her character Morgana. There’s also still a chance to win a copy of the I, Morgana ebook, just check out her blog post.

From her post: “The character of Morgana has always fascinated me. Throughout the legend she’s portrayed as a wicked, scheming ‘witch’, bent on Arthur’s destruction, and yet it is said that after the Battle of Camlann she took Arthur by boat to the sacred Isle of Avalon to be healed of his wounds – which seems such a loving act, and completely out of character after what has gone before. And so I set out to understand why she does what she does in the legend, and I, Morgana is the result: the story of a proud, ambitious and passionate woman, bent on revenge, and who is ruled by her heart and not her head, a flaw that lies at the heart of this story.”

Enjoy Felicity’s blog post below, and I’ll be joining the book tour next week to talk about Carlie… xx

felicitybookAbout my character – Morgana:

What is her name?  Morgana, also called Morgan le Fay (‘the fairy’) in Arthurian legend.

Is she a fictional/historical character? It depends on whether or not you believe King Arthur really existed in the past!  To me, she is a legendary character, who has been much traduced through the ages.

When/where is the story set? I’ve set I, Morgana in a quasi-medieval ‘otherworld’ scenario very similar to our own, and have used the place names (in the UK) normally associated with Arthurian legend – eg Tintagel, Glastonbury and ‘Camelot’. Rather than going with the currently popular scenario of Arthur as a dark age dux bellorum (who may or may not have existed but who probably inspired the later stories about King Arthur) I chose a ‘medieval’ setting because that’s when the first coherent narratives began to be written, giving rise to the legend as we now know it.

What should we know about her? The character of Morgana has always fascinated me. Throughout the legend she’s portrayed as a wicked, scheming ‘witch’, bent on Arthur’s destruction, and yet it is said that after the Battle of Camlann she took Arthur by boat to the sacred Isle of Avalon to be healed of his wounds – which seems such a loving act, and completely out of character after what has gone before. And so I set out to understand why she does what she does in the legend, and I, Morgana is the result: the story of a proud, ambitious and passionate woman, bent on revenge, and who is ruled by her heart and not her head, a flaw that lies at the heart of this story.

What is the main conflict? What messes up her life? Morgana is the first born child of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and Igraine, his wife. But her father is killed in battle, and through the trickery of Merlin the hated High King, Uther Pendragon, takes his place. Schooled in magic by Merlin, and promised a kingdom, Morgana is usurped by her half-brother Arthur, and is betrayed by everyone she’s ever loved and trusted. Bent on reclaiming what is rightfully hers, Morgana’s schemes for revenge will bring down a kingdom and break her heart. The question is: can she learn the lessons from the past in time to save the future – both hers AND ours?

Who is the publisher, and where can we read more about the book? I, Morgana is published by Momentum Books (Pan Macmillan) both in e-book and print format. www.momentumbooks.com.au/books/i-morgana.  You can read more about the book on my website: www.felicitypulman.com.au.