The Vision of Stephen

by Lolah Burford

We first meet Stephen as he is riding through a forest in Northumbria in A.D. 674. Nearly ambushed in a trap set by King Aella, who is at war with Stephen's father, the King of Deira, he is saved by Aella's son. The two princes feel a curious and instant friendship - but as a result, Stephen is eventually ordered by his father to the torture chamber in an attempt to discover what information or treachery has passed between them. As he slips into merciful unconsciousness on the rack we are transported to the year 1822, into the home of twelve year-old Margery and her
brother Peter, where Margery is exclaiming : "There is a boy in the grate behind the pianoforte. A boy. Mama, and he is as real as real." It is Stephen, still in his seventh-century garb. The whole family, particularly young Margery, takes him into their hearts, and he becomes an integral part of their lives. But he does keep disappearing for long intervals, followed by sudden reappearances. Like a haunting fugue in music, the two eras meet and blend and separate. Throughout, the different customs, life styles, beliefs, the surrounding country- side are vividly portrayed. All the people involved in the plot - and there is a plot, and a most suspenseful one - become very real and very fascinating to the reader. The Vision of Stephen is quite unlike any recent novel: probably its nearest counterpart is T. H. White's The Once and Future King. If you would like to be transported. however briefly, from our own
troublous times, this enchanting novel offers a dazzling voyage into another and magical world.

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction, Historical

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1972

About the author

Burford was the daughter of Joseph Michael Egan and Mae Rene Flanary. She was educated at Bryn Mawr (Class of 1951), and SMU Graduate School (Class of 1954). She served as a teacher at the Norfleet School of Music and Individual Studies in New York, and was an instructor in the SMU English department after receiving her master's degree. She married poet William Skell Burford, who co-founded the literary magazine The Medusa.

She died in Tarrant, Texas in 2002.

Reviews

[Murphy C · Rating 2 out of 5]

It just didn't feel fully fleshed out, a sort of half-baked novel. Also, there are significant plot details that don't make sense.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edward, Edward this is not. What can I say? I like my Burford bonkers, bodice-ripping, and batshit.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this in 1972 when I was a college student and it was new. I haven’t owned it for many years, I suppose, but stumbled across it—looking for Samuel Butler—and decided its $2 price tag was too good to pass up. It is not a perfect book, but it is very good for what it is—a little precious at times, but more importantly full of good sense and strong emotion and, perhaps strangest of all, a very clear sense, very briefly but convincingly revealed, of what it must have been like to live in warlike times long past, when men neither necessarily cruel nor sadistic did things as a matter of course which we find abhorrent. Worthy of sitting next to the superb books of Alan Garner, it doesn’t quite have their austere majesty, but shares their heart and soul. It should, most certainly, be restored to print.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

The two siblings, Margery and Peter, share the vision of meeting with an imprisoned 9th century prince of Anglo-Saxon Britain. Stephen entertains them with 'stories' of his time but from his perspective he is escaping the torture & his confinement. He has willed himself beyond the reach of his physical torture but he is constantly called back to his own time and the reason for his silence in the face of pain.
With all Ms Burford tales there is more than simple adventure. Here she poses questions of where honor and familial love truly lie.

[Lynn Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is it about English children and alternate realities?

This is a slender, time-travel novel, deeply rooted in the Venerable Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation," that explores the themes of love, loyalty, and family in haunting, change-provoking ways

[Kathie (katmom) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still read this about every other year...and I still cry over Stephen's life.

Would have loved to find out what Stephen talked about with the children's father, to know what he wrote on that paper.

Dang, makes me tearful just thinking about him...

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

strangely fascinating. Boy from AD 674 visits children in London in 1822