The novel tells the story of Eilan, granddaughter of the Arch-Druid of Britain. She hears the calling of the Goddess and is chosen to become a priestess at Vernemeton, and later to succeed the dying Lhiannon as High Priestess. However, before her calling, she hears the voice of her heart, and during the magic night of Beltaine, conceives a son with Roman officer Gaius Macellius, son of the high-ranking Camp Prefect at nearby Deva. Gaius is an inheritant of royal blood through his Celtic mother of a southern tribe, the Silures. Eilan knows their son, Gawen, whose bloodline comes from the Dragon (Celtic royalty), the Eagle (Roman Empire), and from the Wise (Druids), will play a crucial role in Britain's future, and makes great sacrifices to protect him in his youth. A major shift in the balance of power is in the air; Eilan senses that the death of her peace-loving Arch-Druid grandfather will cause it. She tells her friend Caillean (who was rescued from her uncaring mother in Hibernia by Lhiannon) to take a group of young priestesses to the isle of Avalon to found a new sanctuary and become the first high-priestess of Avalon. In Vernemeton, Eilan is increasingly pressured by the new Arch-Druid, her father, to stop promoting peace and collaboration with the Romans. In a dramatic showdown she sacrifices herself (along with her love Gaius) to avoid a bloody insurgency and, in particular, to save the life of her son Gawen. Development The Mists of Avalon, a retelling of the King Arthur myth from a feminist point of view, is Marion Zimmer Bradley's most famous single novel. Over the years, and through collaboration with her sister-in-law, Diana L. Paxson, it has grown into a series of books: The Mists of Avalon (1982), The Forest House (1994), Lady of Avalon (1997), Priestess of Avalon (2000), Ancestors of Avalon (2004), Ravens of Avalon (2007), and Sword of Avalon (2009). Although Paxson is uncredited, Bradley acknowledged her contribution: In Sword and Sorceress XI Bradley wrote in her introduction for Paxson's Spirit Singer ...when I decided to write the story mentioned at the end of Mists of Avalon—about Roman Britain and the Druid priestess Eilan—it was Diana I chose to collaborate with me on it. Because of marketing decisions, Viking decided my name alone would sell better—I'm not sure why—but here among friends, so to speak, I'm happy to acknowledge