Ancestors of Avalon is a 2004 fantasy novel written by Diana L. Paxson

Diana L. Paxson

Diana L. Paxson is an author, primarily in the fields of Paganism and Heathenism. Her published works include fantasy and historical fiction novels, as well as numerous short stories...

, and based on an idea of the late Marion Zimmer Bradley

Marion Zimmer Bradley

Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series. Many critics have noted a feminist perspective in her writing. Her first child, David R...

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The book is one of 7 prequels

Avalon Series

The Avalon Series is a series of fantasy novels written by Marion Zimmer Bradley, with help from Diana L. Paxson. Paxson later took over sole authorship after Bradley's death in 1999...

 to Bradley's popular fantasy novel Mists of Avalon. The characters of Ancestors of Avalon have appeared earlier in Bradley's fantasy novel The Fall of Atlantis. Ancestors is the missing link to the implied connection to the mythical Atlantis in Bradley's Avalon-series.
2500 years BC, Tiriki, Priestess of Light and of the Earth-goddess Ni-Terat, and her husband Micail, Priest of Light and Prince of the Atlantean state Atharrath, have to save themselves from the destruction of Atlantis and are forced to board different ships to the Isles of Tin (Britain).