Dorothy James Roberts (1894–1990)

This book has sat on our bookshelves for decades, along with The Silver Chalice. They were written within a year of each other, though The Silver Chalice became a movie. This story is that of Tristan and Isolde. It is not a modern novel, but taking the journey a little slower and less frank has some advantages. The 1953 write-up of the book is worth the read, though:

The most splendid love story of the Western World recreated for the first time in a great novel....

This is the story of a love larger than all time and all places. For almost a thousand years it has been cherished and told down the ages. Now for the first time, the story of Tristan and Isolde has been recreated in novel form for the modern reader. The Enchanted Cup is a significant literary achievement, a novel of dramatic power and exalted beauty.

When Tristan sailed into Ireland, he was near death from the wound which had won him knighthood. His sword, too, bore a wound, for a piece of it still remained in the head of a great champion who lay dead at Tristan's hands. He was saddened at the memory of his father, the King of Lyonesse, who had never welcomed him, and at the thought of his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, for whose sake he had done battle. Most of all Tristan was troubled at the memory of the noble warrior he had slain. But in Ireland his destiny awaited him. There he first saw Isolde the Fair, who would be queen of queens to him. For her he would challenge the fierce Saracen knight, for her no risk would ever prove too great.

Even Tristan's treacherous cousin Andret did not know what forces were unleashed when he compelled Tristan to deliver Isolde to Mark as the king's bride. On the immortal sea voyage Tristan and Isolde drank, unknowing, of the love potion. And nothing they had sworn was as powerful as the wine they drank. They loved from the first as if it were the last night of this world. Their passion was to rouse kingdoms against them and to break the heart of a gentle French princess. But nothing could sever the bond between them.

Here is the clash of medieval tournaments, the thunder of the charge, the rich splendor of King Arthur's court at Camelot, and the bravery of the Hundred and Forty who ringed the Round Table. Here is the sage squire Gouvernail, and the loyal Dinadan of wry wit and stout heart. Here, too, is the grey knight Launcelot who sorrowed for Guenivere and once gave the lovers haven. Here above all is the most famous and splendid love story of the Western World, told as only a gifted novelist could tell it. The Enchanted Cup is a novel in the grand tradition which does honor to the legend it refreshes.

(Description from the 1953 edition)… (mer)