Local author Meredith Lahmann has re-imagined the Knights of the Round Table in her novel "Sir Gawain's Challenge."

Many of us may have dim memories of distant cardboard knights galloping across musty pages or late-night screen.

Lahmann has refreshed and reinvigorated this ancient myth in her book. Her Gawain is a complex man of strong spirituality, bearing his self-chosen burden of service to his king as well as the involuntary burden of single fatherhood.

Gawain, Lancelot, and other knights are humanized, with their quirks and foibles, their secret fears and public shortcomings.

A notable feature of her book is an appreciation of military equipment, training, strategy, and tactics of the time. The logic underlying knighthood is woven artfully into the story.

The ending of the book shifts into a higher dramatic gear and really takes off. I found myself thinking that Gawain's pursuit of the psychopathic sadist Viscount De Longe could have been expanded into a book in itself. I liked the insight into the villain that Meredith imported from modern psychology.

"Sir Gawain's Challenge" is available from Catfish Books in the Willowtree Shopping Center in Lakeport. I was fortunate enough to buy a signed copy.

It is also available directly from the publisher, Authorhouse, over the Internet, at www.authorhouse.com.

E-mail George Dorner at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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