A Glastonbury Romance

A Glastonbury Romance was written by John Cowper Powys (1873–1963) in rural upstate New York and first published by Simon and Schuster in New York City in March 1932. An English edition published by John Lane followed in 1933. It has "nearly half-a-million words" and was described as "probably the longest undivided novel in English". It is the second of Powys's Wessex novels, along with Wolf Solent (1929), Weymouth Sands (1934) and Maiden Castle (1936). Powys was an admirer of Thomas Hardy and these novels are set in Somerset and Dorset, parts of Hardy's mythical Wessex. The action occurs over roughly a year, and the first two chapters of A Glastonbury Romance take place in Norfolk, where the late Canon William Crow's will is read, and the Crow family learn that his secretary-valet John Geard has inherited his wealth. Also in Norfolk, a romance begins between cousins, John and Mary Crow. However, after an important scene at the ancient monument of Stonehenge, the rest of the action takes place in or near the Somerset town of Glastonbury, which is some ten miles north of the village of Montacute. Powys's father, the Reverend Charles Francis Powys (1843–1923), was parish priest of Montacute from 1885 to 1918, and it was here that Powys grew up. The grail legends associated with the town of Glastonbury are of major importance in this novel, and Welsh mythology has, for the first time, a significant role. Summary of the plot The book is divided into two sections, which reflects Simon and Schuster's original plan to publish the book in two separate volumes, as they had done with Wolf Solent. The climax of volume 1 is Geard's pageant, part of his plan to revive Glastonbury as a place of religious pilgrimage. The Pageant has three parts: "Arthurian scenes at the beginning", then a "Christmas 'Passion Play' ", followed by a final "prehistoric portion". However the Pageant ends abruptly during the second part, when Owen Evans, who is enacting Christ's death on the Cross, collapses. In volume 2's final chapter, "The Flood", the sea invades the land, Geard dies, and Glastonbury becomes an island once again. The action begins in Norfolk with the funeral Canon William Crow and the reading of his will, and where the romance between the cousins John and Mary Crow begins. The Crow family members are shocked to learn that William' Crow's secretary-valet, John Geard, has inherited most of the deceased's wealth.