Hi Amy! I'm a high school student, and I have to write an English paper comparing The Mists of Avalon to real life. It's a pretty feministic book, and it takes place in King Arthur's life (500 AD). I've been looking and looking but can't find information on how children were born back then; the customs, what the midwives did, that sort of thing. I was hoping you knew of a website or two I could check out. Thanks a bunch, Elisabeth

Oh, and ANY additional info you have on women from that period - from what they wore to what they ate to how they talked - would be really, really, really appreciated!

I'm so envious that you read the Mists of Avalon--it has been on my "to-read list" forever and comes highly recommended by many of my friends. I hope you enjoyed as much as they did. To help put the book in context--I recommend that you look at some of the following books:

1.) Women Imagine Change: A Global Anthology of Resistance from 600 B. C. E. to Present --a very dense anthology of essays. Several of the essays come from approximately 500 AD and each essay is appropriately put into a time context. So I think that would be helpful.

2.) A History of Their Own: Women In Europe from Prehistory to the Present by Bonnie Anderson and Judith Zinsser, which as the name implies gives a pretty detailed account of women's experiences during these times.

Those two are the best suggestions I can think of, but I'd be glad to think of others if need be. Good luck.

—Amy