The Story of Silence

Myers (Continental Divide) skillfully retells a little-known medieval poem about a gender-fluid knight. For celebrated knight Earl Cador to maintain his rule over Cornwall, he must have a son. So when his wife delivers a baby girl named Silence, Cador orders the child to be taken by a nurse and raised in isolation, as a boy. Silence, who is referred to with he/him pronouns for most of the story, grows up kind, moral, obsessed with knightly virtues—and deeply hurt by his father's ostracism. A crass yet wise Merlin weaves in and out of the story as Silence takes an indirect, lonely route through minstrelsy to knighthood and acclaim, all while navigating the struggle between nature and nurture. But Silence's destiny is not to be man or woman, but to be both. The musings on gender are introspective and insightful, and though certain plot points retained from the original poem may discomfort the modern reader—including a false accusation of rape late in the story— Myers honors both the source material and his contemporary readership, and his prose is utterly enchanting. Fantasy and historical fiction readers will delight in this mythical contribution to Arthuriana. (June)