Where to Start with Mary Stewart: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Mary Stewart — whether to begin with The Crystal Cave or The Hollow Hills. A complete reading guide to the British Arthurian novelist.
Mary Stewart (1916–2014) was the English novelist whose Merlin trilogy — The Crystal Cave (1970), The Hollow Hills (1973), and The Last Enchantment (1979) — became the most widely read Arthurian fiction of the twentieth century after T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, transforming Merlin from a supporting character into a fully realised protagonist and grounding the Arthurian legends in the specific historical reality of fifth-century post-Roman Britain. Stewart was also highly regarded for her romantic suspense novels — Nine Coaches Waiting, My Brother Michael — that were enormously popular in the 1950s and 1960s.
Where to Start: The Crystal Cave (1970)
The essential Stewart — and one of the great works of Arthurian fiction. The novel’s narrator is Myrddin Emrys — Merlin — an illegitimate child of royal blood growing up in fifth-century Wales after the collapse of Roman order and the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon invasions. Merlin has, from childhood, the gift of sight: visions that come unbidden, prophecies he cannot always interpret, an inner knowing that separates him from the people around him.
Stewart’s approach to Merlin is rationalist rather than mystical. The magic he practises is real — he heals, he sees, he influences events — but the novel’s tone is one of a practical, intelligent man who understands engineering, medicine, and psychology better than those around him, and whose ‘gifts’ are mostly the application of superior knowledge to situations others treat as supernatural. He moves through the political landscape of fifth-century Britain — the rivalry between British princes, the threat of Saxon invasion, the competing claims to the high kingship — with a political intelligence that shapes events without quite controlling them.
The final third of the novel concerns the conception of Arthur — one of the most delicately handled pieces of mythological storytelling in English fiction. Stewart makes the central event of the Arthurian legend feel simultaneously historically plausible and genuinely momentous.
For readers interested in Arthurian legend, historical fiction, or simply exceptional narrative prose, The Crystal Cave is one of the finest novels in the genre.
The Hollow Hills (1973)
The direct sequel — Merlin’s guardianship of the young Arthur, from infancy through the drawing of the sword. Must be read after The Crystal Cave; the trilogy completes with The Last Enchantment (1979).
Reading Mary Stewart
Begin with The Crystal Cave — it is the only starting point. Read The Hollow Hills directly after; the trilogy forms a continuous narrative of Merlin’s life and purpose.
For the full Mary Stewart bibliography, reviews, and biography, visit the Mary Stewart author page on Editors Reads.
Affiliate disclosure: Links to Amazon on this page are affiliate links. We earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Mary Stewart?
The Crystal Cave (1970) is the only starting point — the first novel in Stewart's Merlin trilogy, told from Merlin's perspective from his illegitimate childhood in fifth-century Britain through the events that lead to the conception of Arthur. The most important Arthurian novel of the twentieth century alongside T.H. White's The Once and Future King; must be read before The Hollow Hills, which continues Merlin's story.
What is The Crystal Cave about?
The Crystal Cave follows Myrddin Emrys (Merlin) from his childhood as an illegitimate prince in fifth-century Wales through his discovery of his gift for vision and prophecy, his training under the magician Galapas, his years in Brittany and Rome, and his return to Britain to serve the high king Ambrosius and eventually Uther Pendragon. Stewart's Merlin is rational and political rather than mystically supernatural — his 'magic' is largely insight, knowledge of engineering, and the ability to read people and situations — and the fifth-century world he inhabits is rendered with historical precision.
What is The Hollow Hills about?
The Hollow Hills (1973) is the direct sequel — Merlin's guardianship of the infant Arthur, hidden from those who would harm him, and the growing boy's training and preparation for his destiny. The novel covers Arthur's childhood and young manhood up to his drawing of the sword Excalibur. Stewart continues the rationalist approach — the sword in the stone has a historical explanation — while building genuine mythological grandeur.
How does Stewart's Merlin compare to other Arthurian retellings?
Stewart's trilogy is distinguished from other Arthurian retellings by its historical grounding (fifth-century post-Roman Britain rather than medieval fantasy), its first-person narration from Merlin's perspective (making him the protagonist rather than a supporting character), and its rationalist approach to magic (explaining supernatural elements through natural knowledge and insight). T.H. White's The Once and Future King is the other major twentieth-century Arthurian retelling; White is more comic and more interested in anachronism; Stewart is more historically serious.
