Alix E. Harrow, the bestselling author of STARLING HOUSE and THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES, returns with her most epic, ambitious novel yet. THE EVERLASTING is an Arthurian time-travel romp about a legendary swordswoman with the power to develop nations, erase histories and unite municipalities, all with the draw of her sword and the cut of her blade. It is also about Owen Mallory, the historian charged with making sure her story does all that and more.

“It begins where it ends: beneath the yew tree.” So begins one of many stories recounting the rise and fall of Sir Una Everlasting, a girl born of nothing and no one (or so the legends say). She became the sworn champion of Queen Yvanne the First, the woman who united the whole of the kingdom of Dominion, fought off the pagan heathenism of the Hinterlands, and ensured that God --- and, more importantly, her own rule --- was brought to every dark, hidden corner of the kingdom.

For the longest time, Owen has been captivated by Una’s tale, a story that seems to find him whenever he needs it most --- as a boy looked down upon for his Hinterland blood and his drunk, turncoat father; when he feels the call to fight for his country; on the battlefield, just as Dominion is losing the war; and, finally, when a book arrives on his desk at the Cantford College Department of History.

"THE EVERLASTING is expansive but intimate, painful and exquisite, a reckoning and a homecoming.... Harrow’s magnificent prose, thoroughly grounded worldbuilding and wizard-like wielding of powerful themes are simply not to be missed."

For years, Owen has traced the stories of Una, each of them --- from storybooks for children to loose biographies --- claiming to be based on The Death of Una Everlasting, a firsthand account of her life as told by her anonymous traveling companion. The only problem is that there is no real evidence that it ever existed. Until, that is, the book is mailed to him with no return address. Like a true historian, Owen approaches the tome like a priceless, fragile work of art, barely daring to touch its exterior, let alone open it. He tells no one about his discovery. At best, it will put all eyes on him and risk losing the book to higher authorities who wish to review, sell or show it. At worst, it will prove to everyone around him that poor, raspy-voiced, cowardly Owen has completely lost it --- and all over an icon who may or may not be the work of fiction.

But when Owen returns home one day, the book is gone. In its place is a crisp notecard with an address scrawled on it: the capitol. Dominion is no longer under the rule of kings and queens. As of late, though, its citizens have started a reckoning with its colonizing history, and several rebels (his own father included) have turned to anarchy to set right the sordid history of Dominion. When Owen arrives at the capitol, he is met by the Minister of War, Vivian Rolfe. She tells him that he has a duty to his country. Upon revealing the book’s blank pages, she tasks him with the impossible: writing the history of Sir Una Everlasting. But first, while wiedling a knife, she says he must go back.

When Owen awakens, he is at the yew tree that was once a haven for him in his youth, an ageless, eternal tree that reminds him of the very one under which Una was first found, the place where she --- just like King Arthur --- pulled a magical sword from its trunk and became a legend. Una is there, every bit as striking and intimidating as he had imagined. But rather than a fighter set to serve her queen in any and all endeavors, he finds a broken woman who doubts she will ever complete a quest again. Owen realizes that his job is not only to write her story, but to ensure that she lives it.

Their first mission involves slaying Dominion’s last dragon to acquire a holy grail that will return sickly Queen Yvanne to health and help unite the kingdom. But as they journey north, through the slain Hinterlands and into the nation’s poorest corners, he sees that legends are not always what they seem. Worse, because he comes from the future and has studied Una’s tale with the attention of a lover, he knows something she does not: slaying the dragon will be her last quest, and she will die for it.

If an Arthurian time-travel tale starring a female knight and a cowardly historian sounds like just a hair too much to accept, then you simply don’t know Alix E. Harrow. Harrow is no stranger to stories of magic and even time travel, but here she combines these elements with deeply intimate characters who live and breathe, hurt and love. She calls upon our own fractured time to remind readers of the power of history --- not just learning and remembering it but acknowledging who writes it and why. But the book is still full of that cozy fantasy escapism that Harrow does best.

THE EVERLASTING is expansive but intimate, painful and exquisite, a reckoning and a homecoming. The characters of Una and Owen, much like the legends they inspire in the book, will live on long after readers have turned the final page. Fantasy fans surely will devour it, but even if you tend to stick to more realistic tales, I urge you to give it a try. Harrow’s magnificent prose, thoroughly grounded worldbuilding and wizard-like wielding of powerful themes are simply not to be missed.