This novel takes us back 1500 years

I almost didn’t read Sean Poage’s book, The Retreat To Avalon. It’s 450 pages long and a fictional account that takes us back 1500 years. Little did I know how fascinating this could be.

Now I am very excited that this turns out to be the first of three historical fiction books exploring the origins of the Arthurian legends back in the day of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

I got hooked in the very first chapter and read the whole book in two days. Sean must’ve done an enormous amount of research to tell us this very interesting and engaging story. This is an amazing book by a first time author.

It did take me a while to figure out how to pronounce some of the character’s names (such as Riothamus and Gwyar). And I
certainly was worried when the main character, Gawain, left England with other soldiers to fight his way across Eastern Europe all the way to Italy.

I wondered, would Gawain ever see his wife or his soon-to-be-born daughter again? And you won’t find out till the very last page.

Sean has traveled the world and worked in several occupations including soldier, police officer, and computer geek. When he is not writing he works as an IT manager and lives in Maine with his wife Jennifer and their blended family of four children.

I can assure you when Sean’s second novel is published, I will be eager to read it!

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.