A curious project brilliantly, beautifully executed. Amy Jeff’s own artwork - dramatic, ambiguous linocuts - work well with her storytelling, as she explains a new-yet-old “Matter of Britain.” Each episode - she starts with the giants and standing stones in Ireland, and takes us through to a last rising of Gogmagog in opposition to the Normans - is followed by a careful but lucid commentary, acknowledging her sources, and there is a valuable Further Reading appendix.
The author is a medievalist as well as an artist and storyteller. She wears her scholarship lightly and uses her own insights and connections to bring some coherence to the jumble she is picking from. That said, Jeffs does not shy from difficult ideas in the legends she retells. Weland (Weyland) is here, and the tragic Cordelia: Arthur and Merlin; the King of Lothian; Kenelm; Edward; the conception of William the Bastard…
This is focused yet wide-ranging: charming, engrossing, lively - and I can foresee it bringing me fresh insights as I visit some more of the sites at the heart of her story.