The Squire’s Tale

The Squire’s Tale Series is a series of novels by renowned children’s author Gerald Morris. The series of novels are a contemporary retelling of the Arthurian legends, and include many of the characters that make an appearance in the legends. Sir Gawain one of the most popular characters in the legends and his squire Terence who is author Morris’s creation, are characters in all of his books. For the most part, each novel in the series is a narrative following on Arthurian legend and the different characters, though he sometimes blends two or more stories in the writing of one novel. For instance, The Ballad of Sir Dinadan features a protagonist whose experiences mirror the narratives of Tristram and Isolde, and those of Culwch and Olwen. With so many characters, Morris rotates the character even though the themes of the novels remain similar from novel to novel. All the novels have a different lead character except for the first two that have the lead as Terence Sir Gawain’s squire. The series is noted for having amazing humor and given the fact that Gerald Morris is an expert of the Arthurian legends, the stories have a unique flavor that you would not expect to find in similar works. Morris writes from the point of view of the women, pages, squires rather than that of the knights which quite innovative and intriguing in itself. The first novel in the series “The Squire’s Tale”, which spawned nine more titles culminating in the 2010 published, “The Legend of the King”.