Cirrus@Austlit

In this lovely story-within-a-story by Australian writer Prue Batten, a medieval troubadour tells his master's young son a legend of Occitan: A queen suspected of sorcery and shape-changing and how she was vindicated. The tale is illustrated with historiated initials drawn from medieval manuscripts. (Publication Summary)

'Once upon a time, a lady fell asleep in a sunny afternoon orchard, and woke up somewhere else . . .

Prue Batten returns to her fairy-land world of Eirie to tell a cautionary tale. Her unnamed heroine awakens in a great, mysterious house filled with dwellers in the Other world, some of whom hunt her, some of whom help her, and some of whom seem to be both enemy and friend. One by one, she eludes them or learns from them, until she is almost within the hunters' grasp . . .'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A short story by well-known historical novelist Prue Batten set in the High Middle Ages of Northern France. Trouvères were the northern equvilent of the Occitan troubadours, a school of aristocratic poets and singers who celebrated the idea of courtly love that was sweeping through Burgundy, Aquitaine, and Provence at the end of the eleventh century.

'In Batten's romantic and suspenseful tale, trouvère Flori de Mazamet is caught between the beauty embodied in his art and the common brutality beneath the courtly ideal. He attempts to aid a lady whose illicit love forces him to make a choice between love and pity.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'After Australian novelist Prue Batten happened to mention that she had a black wombat on her farm in Tasmania, I challenged her to write a story about him. This sweet and simple children's story is the result.

'Nugget has a pretty good life, really. He has a snug burrow he dug himself and delicious roots and leaves to eat. If it weren't for the teasing and antics of the wallabies, cockatoos, and kookaburras, anyway. And he's a bit lonely. But there's a rumor of another wombat far up the bush track on the other side of the farm. . .'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A short story by Australian novelist Prue Batten, about one of the Robin Hood legend's baddies, Guy of Gisborne. In the early ballads, Guy is Robin's main antagonist, and may once have a mythic story of his own that was incorporated into the Robin Hood story.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A short story by Prue Batten, set in her fantasy world of Eirie, that involves love at first sight, betrayal, beautiful costumes, tall dark strangers, and magic.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.