Maid Marian

In Sherwood Forest, the legendary outlaws have a new strategist-and she isn't waiting to be rescued. This witty and irreverent tale from 1822 turns the classic Robin Hood legend on its head. Long before she was a "damsel in distress," the noble Matilda Fitzwater-better known as Maid Marian-was a fierce archer and shrewd negotiator. When her wedding to the Earl of Huntingdon is forcibly interrupted by the King's men, she fights her way from the stifling walls of her father's castle to join the merry band of foresters. Peacock's Marian is a clever heroine who outwits the Sheriff of Nottingham, while defending Sherwood Forest with more skill than the men around her. Brimming with delightful songs and comic absurdity, you'll experience the legendary forest through a new lens-where the wit is as sharp as the arrows and the adventure belongs to Marian. With twenty quirky, delightful illustrations (eighteen full-page) drawn by F.H. Townsend in 1895.