Elizabeth Marie Pope’s Perilous Gard

One of my all-time favorite novels just happens to also be my favorite book to read around Halloween. This book, written by a brilliant scholar named Elizabeth Marie Pope, is The Perilous Gard. The Perilous Gard, a historical fantasy and the second of Ms. Pope’s Young Adult books, was published in 1974 and went on to win the Newbery Honor in 1975.

Elizabeth Marie Pope (1917-1992) was born in Washington D.C .and received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College. After finishing her PhD from Johns Hopkins University, she took a position teaching English at Mills College in Oakland, CA. Eventually, she became head of the English Department and taught at the college for 38 years. While her CV is impressive, what she taught changed everything I thought I knew about fairytales.

Elizabeth Marie Pope’s passion was on the origins of mythologies and legends. She believed that there were four ways to teach myths. The first was historical-archaeological, where you teach what actually happened according to the evidence you have. The second way was psychological, through symbols that represent the deepest part of a person’s psyche. The third way was through anthropological theory, meaning through the seasons of life and nature (agricultural seasons, human birth, marriage, children, death, etc.) which are all marked by elaborate ceremonies. The fourth is analytic study, which is closer to a scientific study than the first three. This is where one breaks down the parts of the story and classifies them, as one would a scientific experiment.

So what does this have to do with a YA book published decades ago? According to one of her former students (and this has not been corroborated), Elizabeth Marie Pope wrote her books as a way to show her students how myths affect literature. Her first book, The Sherwood Ring, is a ghostly tale of love and betrayal set in both the modern world as well as during the Revolutionary War (it’s well worth reading). It’s mostly a romance with mythic underpinnings. But her second book, The Perilous Gard, is a psychological study of why we are so fascinated by the world of fairies. I don’t mean tiny fairies who flit around, or the sexy fairies who find their way into romance novels, I mean the true fairy folk who worshipped in the old way of the druids. The true fairy folk who lived beneath the ground, deep below the ancient sacred circles that used to dot Great Britain and Ireland. The true fairy folk who were made immortal in the Scottish Ballad of Tam Lin.

The story is set in England, 1558, during the Reign of Queen Mary Tudor, Queen Elizabeth I’s sister. The plot revolves around two sisters, Kate and Alicia, who are the youngest ladies-in-waiting to Princess Elizabeth who is living in exile at her sister Mary’s command. Basically, Alicia (who is a flibbertigibbet, as my mother used to say) gets Kate in trouble with Queen Mary. So the queen sends Kate deep into the northern part of the country with Sir Geoffrey Heron. Once there, Kate, who is a strong-willed, stubborn, and intelligent young woman, discovers the world of the Perilous Gard (an ancient, pre-Norman fortification and tower) built on the edge of the Elevenwood.

Once ensconced in the castle and left to her own devices, Kate discovers that the village folk are terrified of her as well as the People Who Live Beneath the Well, strange pilgrims visit an old well near the ancient keep to throw gold and coins into the water only to receive succor from the fairies below, and a young girl named Cecily has recently disappeared. The story gets more complicated, but Kate is quickly drawn into the mystery of Christopher Heron (Geoffrey’s younger brother) and Cecily’s disappearance (she is Geoffrey’s daughter). But Kate, having a strong mind and stubborn heart, does not believe in the tales of the Fairy Folk… until she meets them.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but Kate’s adversary—the terrifying Lady in Green who is queen of the Fairy Folk–is one of the greatest villains I’ve ever read in any story. She’s brutal and violent yet you can’t help but feel sorry for her as she fights for the survival of the people in her sacred circle, those who live in the tunnels beneath the well. The Fairy Folk are ancient druids and while Kate firmly believes they are flesh and blood people, the reader is left with the uneasy feeling that maybe the Fairy Folk are immortal. Either way, the way of life for these druids is under threat from the growing reach of Christianity and modernity. The story revolves around what Kate believes to be real and the religious beliefs she holds to be true as well as the growing love story between her and Christopher Heron.

Like I mentioned before, this is a retelling of Tam Lin, a story that explains how a woman outsmarted the fairies to win back her lover who was meant to be sacrificed on All Hallows Eve (Halloween) as a teind-payer. Basically a human sacrifice to the druid gods in exchange for safety and food for the next seven years. So the black moment and climax of this book take place on All Hallows Eve where Kate must outwit the Queen of the Fairies to save her love.

This book was written in 1975 and takes place during the Tudor dynasty. So while Christopher can be a bit patronizing (he is a Tudor man and it was written in the 70’s), Kate steps out of the conventions of her time. Yet, it doesn’t feel anachronistic. Kate’s reasons and intelligence are, in a sense, timeless. And her bravery and tenacity on All Hollows Eve truly save the day. Yet, even after saving those she loves, she struggles with her own insecurities and her place in the world–until she has one final confrontation with the Lady in Green. Kate is the type of heroine that every teenage girl can identify with and most women hope to become.

So if you enjoy dark stories about fairies, druids, family betrayals, and true love, you may just adore this old YA historical fantasy as much as I did. In fact, I love this book so much, I reread it (and The Sherwood Ring) every October. I just wish Ms. Pope had written more than two novels. I can’t imagine what masterpiece she would’ve written next.

This book has been reprinted many, many times in hardcover and paperback and is even in audio. If you decide to buy this book, look for the edition that was illustrated by Richard Cuffari. His drawings truly add to the story’s dark and mystical aesthetic.

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