Title: The Saracen Lamp
Author: Ruth M. Arthur
Author: Ruth M. Arthur
Illustrator:
Margery Gill
Publication
Information: Atheneum, 1970 Hardcover
Genre: YA,
Multigenerational
Plot: The book begins in 1300 when a French girl, Melisande,
prepares for her marriage to an English
knight her father met on (the Ninth) Crusade. Her
trusted friend, Joseph, a Saracen servant, makes a beautiful lamp, gold with
stained glass, to take with her. Part I
of the book is about Melisande’s life in England as she adjusts to married
life and a new country, tries to keep peace with her disapproving mother-in-law, Lady Constance,
has a family, and copes with tragedy.
Toward the end of her life, Melisande becomes aware of the presence of a
young girl, in a chair with wheels. She
guesses/hopes the child is from the future and will one day live in Melisande’s
beloved Littleperry Manor.
