From the author of The Lost Queen, hailed as “Outlander meets Camelot” (Kirsty Logan, the author of The Gloaming) and “The Mists of Avalon for a new generation” (Linnea Hartsuyker, the author of The Golden Wolf), a “rich, immersive” (Kirkus Reviews) new novel in which a forgotten queen of 6th-century Scotland claims her throne as war looms and her family is scattered to the winds.
AD 573. Imprisoned in her chamber, Languoreth awaits news in torment. Her husband and son have ridden off to war against her brother, Lailoken. She doesn’t yet know that her young daughter, Angharad, who was training with Lailoken to become a Wisdom Keeper, has been lost in the chaos. As one of the bloodiest battles of early medieval Scottish history abandons its survivors to the wilds of Scotland, Lailoken and his men must flee to exile in the mountains of the Lowlands, while nine-year-old Angharad must summon all Lailoken has taught her to follow her own destiny through the mysterious, mystical land of the Picts.
In the aftermath of the battle, old political alliances unravel, opening the way for the ambitious adherents of the new religion: Christianity. Lailoken is half-mad with battle sickness, and Languoreth must hide her allegiance to the Old Way to survive her marriage to the next Christian king of Strathclyde. Worst yet, the new King of the Angles is bent on expanding his kingdom at any cost. Now the exiled Lailoken, with the help of a young warrior named Artur, may be the only man who can bring the warring groups together to defeat the encroaching Angles. But to do so, he must claim the role that will forever transform him. He must become the man known to history as “Myrddin.”
“Intrigue, rivalry, and magic among the mists of old Britain—The Forgotten Kingdom is an enchantment of a read” (Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network).
Signe Pike is the author of Forgotten Kingdom, The Lost Queen, and the travel memoir Faery Tale, and has researched and written about Celtic history and folklore for more than a decade. Visit her at SignePike.com.
“Engrossing.”
— PopSugar
“[A] work of epic fantasy with ties to the Arthurian legends.”
— Bustle (The Books Everyone Will Be Talking About All September Long)
“Her prose is quick on its feet, begging you to keep reading, joining the characters on their journeys to learn about themselves and the changing world where they live. There are passionate lovers, evil enemies and quite a few powerful women. And, like so many novels set in medieval times, The Forgotten Kingdom is anchored in the rhetoric of glorious battles, both lost and won.”
— Charleston City Paper
"Gripping."
— Charleston Magazine
“A rich, immersive narrative founded on impeccable scholarship."
— Kirkus Reviews
"Impressive historical fiction. Highly recommended."
— The Historical Novel Society, Editor's Choice
"In the second book of her epic trilogy of sixth-century Scotland, Pike adeptly balances brutal power struggles and Celtic mysticism… readers will relish the escape into Pike’s fully developed milieu while seeing its connections to Arthurian legend grow more prominent as, among other aspects, Lailoken serves as a historical model for Merlin.”
— Booklist
"Signe Pike pens a haunting, poetic origin story to the Arthurian legend, following the twisting paths of a young seer in training, a courageous queen stranded on both sides of a vicious war, and her battle-haunted brother who will someday don the mantle of Merlin. Intrigue, rivalry, and magic among the mists of old Britain—The Forgotten Kingdom is an enchantment of a read!"
— Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network
"In The Forgotten Kingdom, a dramatic and feverishly paced continuation of her Lost Queen trilogy, Signe Pike brings medieval Scottish history compellingly to life. As the narrative follows Languoreth through grueling captivity, loss of security, violent separations from loved ones and pervasive fears that shake her to the core, we learn much about loyalty, devotion, endurance and personal courage. Pike’s fans will be thrilled and captivated."
— Paula Mclain, author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin
