Girls who fight their own battles

Rhianna Pendragon from Katherine Roberts' Pendragon Legacy series

For Children's Book Week, author Katherine Roberts reflects on her childhood heroines

As a child, I loved reading about girls who fought their own battles. But all the most exciting stories seemed to have boys as heroes. The closest a girl came to having fun in books was riding a horse… and since I was pony mad myself, my first real heroines were Ruby Ferguson’s Jill and Judith M Berrisford’s Jackie, who both got into all sorts of trouble at various riding schools and trekking stables that would no doubt horrify today’s health and safety inspectors:

But my favourite horsey heroine was Patricia Leitch’s Jinny of Finmory, because she made art (like me), had long red hair (like me) and rode a spirited Arab mare (in my dreams!)

When I outgrew pony stories, I spent several frustrating years searching the shelves for exciting books featuring older heroines who did not spend all day swooning over boys. At this stage, I started reading books enjoyed by boys – fantasy and science fiction, historical adventure, and westerns… although I was, of course, secretly rewriting all of them in my head with the action-hero replaced by an action-heroine!

Fortunately, I found a few strong heroines too. Anne McCaffrey introduced me to Menolly (girl Harper) and Lessa (queen Dragonrider) from her Pern books, who rode fire-breathing dragons and did battle with alien threads falling from the Red Star. Also through Anne McCaffrey, I met the spirited Killashandra Ree, Crystal Singer, who flew in spaceships and sang to mountains. These heroines had no trouble fitting in their adventures and careers around romance.

Shortly after that, I fell in love with Eowyn, brave shield-maiden from J R R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, who holds her own against all those male warriors, sorceresses and hobbits, and has the best line in the film, when she delivers the death blow to the evil leader of the Nazgul, who according to prophecy cannot be slain by any man: 'I am no man!'

When I came to write my Pendragon Legacy series based on the legends of King Arthur, I had in mind a mixture of all my childhood heroines… a horse-riding, sword-wielding, brave, adventurous, red-haired girl with a touch of magic and romance. I decided none of Camelot’s traditional women would work (although the witch Morgan Le Fay makes a great villainess). So I invented a daughter for Arthur, Rhianna Pendragon, who has been raised in secret on the island of Avalon among the fairies. When her evil cousin Mordred kills her father in battle, she rides out of Avalon with her friend Prince Elphin on a quest to find King Arthur’s sword Excalibur and three other magical 'Lights', which Merlin tells her have the power to raise her father from the dead. Dressed in armour and riding a fairy horse called Alba, Rhianna Pendragon is definitely a girl who fights her own battles!

There will be four books altogether about Rhianna Pendragon and her friends, published by Templar in glorious hardcover as well as paperback and ebook formats. I hope all young action-heroines out there enjoy her adventures!

Katherine Roberts is the author of the Pendragon Legacy series, including Sword of Light and Lance of Truth. Find out more about Katherine