Like many, I was first captured by the Arthurian legend through Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, originally published in 1485. In it, Malory brought together all of the extant Arthurian myths and legends into one volume, re-imagined into a medieval framework. The tales of King Arthur come from all over the UK and France, and overlap with Welsh mythology. Malory tried to make a single continuing narrative out of all the fragments, with varying degrees of success.

In The Lost Book of the Grail, Caitlin and John Matthews combine scholarship and spirituality brilliantly to reveal a long-forgotten prequel to the grail quest stories. Based on a new translation of The Elucidation by foremost esotericist Gareth Knight and Caitlín Matthews, the authors place this prequel in its proper place within the per-Christian world.

An excellent addition to the Grail lore.

~review by Lisa Mc Sherry

Author: Caitlin & John Matthews
Inner Traditions, 2019
pp. 352, $24.99