Paula Lafferty’s debut novel, The Once and Future Queen (2025), is the first installment in a planned trilogy. A work of timeslip romantasy, the story follows Vera, a 22-year-old English woman who is consumed by grief and guilt following the recent death of her boyfriend. Her mundane life is upended when she learns that she’s actually Queen Guinevere and that the magician Merlin brought her to the 21st century as an infant in order to save her life. To prevent the collapse of King Arthur’s magically vibrant seventh-century kingdom, Vera must travel back in time to recover her lost memories, which hold the key to breaking a deadly curse. The novel explores themes of Grief as a Catalyst for Reinvention, The Malleability of Historical Narratives, and The Ethical Burden of Power.

The Once and Future Queen joins a tradition of feminist retellings that re-examine patriarchal myths from a female perspective. In traditional Arthurian lore, Guinevere is a passive figure of betrayal, but in this modern retelling, she becomes a modern woman on a journey of self-discovery. The narrative blends the genres of time-travel fiction, high fantasy, and romance, using the “fish-out-of-water” trope to explore a version of Britain’s “Dark Ages” in which magic is commonplace. The story is grounded in the modern setting of Glastonbury, the town historically associated with the mystical Isle of Avalon and the legendary burial site of Arthur and Guinevere.

This guide refers to the 2025 Erewhon Books edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, illness, death, death by suicide, animal death, child abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual violence, mental illness, sexual content, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

Vera, a 22-year-old woman living in Glastonbury, England, is grieving the recent death of her boyfriend, Vincent. She works at the George and Pilgrims Hotel, which is run by her adoptive parents, Allison and Martin. To cope with her guilt over Vincent’s death, she takes pre-dawn runs up the Glastonbury Tor, a local hill steeped in legend. During one of her runs about a year ago, she witnessed a ghostly figure pacing on the Tor.

One morning at the hotel, a mysterious, well-dressed man watches Vera during her breakfast shift. He knows her name but disappears before she can question him. Later, she finds the same man wearing a hooded robe and waiting for her in the pub. He tells her that she is not who she thinks she is—a claim that Allison seems to understand when she sees the man.

The man reveals himself as Merlin and explains that Vera is really Queen Guinevere, the legendary wife of King Arthur. Born in the year 612, Guinevere was mortally injured at age 20. To save her life, Merlin reverted her to an infant and brought her to the 21st century. He must now take her back to her proper time, as her memories are crucial to saving her kingdom. He proves his claim by creating a magical orb that shows an image of Vera as Guinevere. Allison confirms the story, revealing that Vera often spoke of a king and a man named Merlin when she was a child. Driven by a desire for purpose, Vera agrees to go with Merlin. She is given only 90 minutes to prepare and makes a difficult phone call to Martin, who is away receiving cancer treatment. After Vera bids her parents an emotional farewell, Merlin leads her to the White Spring Temple, where they enter a pool of water. As Merlin casts a spell, Vera hears the words “Ishau mar domibaru” and loses consciousness (57).

Vera awakens in the seventh century at the base of the Tor. A spell allows her to understand the local language as she and Merlin walk through a magically vibrant Glastonbury, where she’s greeted as royalty. At a stable, she meets a man whom she assumes is Arthur and for whom she feels an immediate affection. However, Merlin angrily reveals that the man is Sir Lancelot; Arthur could not be there that day. Merlin rides ahead, leaving Vera in Lancelot’s care.

Upon arriving at Camelot, Vera meets King Arthur, who is cold and angry and appears to have been drinking. He declares, “That’s not her” (65), and leaves. Vera is introduced to her chambermaid, Matilda, who believes that Guinevere has been recovering at a monastery for the past year. In her chambers, Vera finds books from her own time, including The Hobbit, which Merlin left for her. Arthur enters just long enough to retrieve his things before retreating to an adjoining room.

Over the next few weeks, Arthur avoids Vera while she and Lancelot develop a close friendship through their daily runs. Merlin eventually reveals the reason why Guinevere was injured. He tells Vera that a second mage named Viviane betrayed the kingdom, attacked Guinevere, and worked a curse that is now draining magic from the land. Guinevere’s locked memories are the key to reversing the curse.

At court, Vera witnesses Arthur’s compassionate rule and publicly defends the stable boy, Grady, from an abusive nobleman named Lord Wulfstan. Arthur supports her, declaring that “[t]he queen’s authority is equal to [his] own” (141). Later, Matilda reveals that Arthur secretly leaves fresh flowers in their chamber, further confusing Vera about the true nature of Arthur’s feelings for her.

Merlin performs a magical procedure to unlock Vera’s memories. During the first attempt, she has a traumatic vision and is pulled out by a panicked Lancelot. On the second attempt, Merlin forces the procedure, which shatters Vera’s memory of her last night with Vincent by forcing it to collide with a memory of Guinevere’s intimacy with Arthur. The process erases Vincent’s face from Vera’s mind but unlocks some of her memories of her former life as Guinevere. Devastated, Vera confronts Merlin, who admits that he knew the procedure was dangerous. He also reveals that Guinevere had initially betrayed Arthur by working with Viviane before changing her mind.

Later, Vera is attacked in the castle chapel by Thomas, the deputy treasurer, who stabs her in the thigh and shoulder. As he assaults her, she kills him with his own knife. Arthur arrives and comforts her, finally confessing the reason he has been staying away from her. He explains that two other versions of Guinevere were brought back before she arrived. The first became homicidal and was killed by Lancelot in self-defense; the second died by suicide. Both deaths occurred after the other Guineveres became intimate with Arthur.

A young mage named Gawain heals Vera’s wounds and reveals that he has been spying on her and Arthur; he knows the whole story behind Vera’s “return.” Gawain offers to help in retrieving Vera’s memories, believing that Merlin’s methods are too risky. Over the next few months, Arthur and Vera perform a public display of affection to stabilize the kingdom, and their feelings become genuine. Vera begins training with the king’s guard and learns to joust. At the spring tournament, news arrives that the city of Crayford has been destroyed by a Saxon mage named Mordred. The shock triggers a spontaneous, real memory for Vera of being on a battlefield with Tristan, her childhood love.

The group travels to the Magesary in Oxford for help. On the way, Vera remembers her entire past with Tristan, including their betrothal. When she tells Arthur, he withdraws, believing that her feelings for Tristan are more real than her potion-induced feelings for him. They have a vicious fight. At an inn, Lancelot stops Vera from undergoing another dangerous procedure with Merlin. The next morning, they’re ambushed by men who have been bewitched by Mordred, but they escape unharmed.

The group retreats to the farmhouse of Arthur’s father, Otto. There, Lancelot reveals that the traitorous mage Viviane is his mother and is still alive; Merlin faked her execution. Lancelot’s magical orb can track her. Arthur and Vera confess their love, affirming their feelings despite the potion’s influence.

The next morning, their camp is attacked. Gawain is captured by Mordred, and Arthur is mortally wounded. As he’s dying, Vera’s own powerful healing gift awakens. She hears the words “Ishau mar domibaru” and uses the “breath of life” to save Arthur’s life (467-68). The story concludes with Arthur, Vera, and Lancelot planning to use the orb to find Viviane, as they believe she is the key to defeating Mordred.