Camelot & Vine

By Petrea Burchard

Telling lies is second nature to Casey Clemens, whether she's talking to strangers on national television or to her mother on the phone. Casey's got a cushy Hollywood condo, an efficient cleaning lady and a rich boyfriend. (Never mind that he's married.) When Casey feels dissatisfied she fantasizes: about winning an Oscar, about finding real love, or about her childhood hero, King Arthur.

It feels like an acting career, sort of, until the day before Casey's 40th birthday when she loses everything she never cared about, falls through a gap in time and lands in the 6th century war camp of King Arthur himself. He mistakes her for a wizard and takes her in. But as she finds her feelings warming to him she also finds enemies. War is fast approaching, and the Dark Ages are a perilous time for an actress with an honesty problem. That is, if she wants to make it back to the 21st century alive. Not that she could if she wanted to. Not that she wants to.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Petrea Burchard
• Release date: Jan 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9780985883720

Petrea Burchard

Petrea Burchard's novel, Camelot & Vine,  follows a failing Hollywood actress as she falls through a gap in time, accidentally saving King Arthur's life. A "delightful intersection of contemporary fiction and historical novel," Camelot & Vine is a funny, bittersweet tale of friendship, love and betrayal through the eyes of a woman who is lost in the present and finds her true self in the past. Burchard's book of comic essays, Act As If: Stumbling Through Hollywood with Headshot in Hand, reveals the funny side of life as a journeyman actor in Hollywood. Her writing is featured in The Sunlight Press, Air: An Anthology, Literary Pasadena, Rose City Sisters, and countless online publications. An actor and an audiobook narrator, Petrea has narrated more than 50 audiobooks in a broad range of genres, for publishers like Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Harper Audio and more. She has appeared on stage, TV and film. Her claim to fame is the voice of Ryoko the space pirate in the classic anime series, Tenchi Muyo! Petrea loves travel, architecture, hanging out with interesting people, and hiking in nature with her husband and their dog, Juice, who is a very good boy.

Reviews for Camelot & Vine

[petreaburchard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was inspired to write "Camelot & Vine" one summer when I traveled to England to study acting at Oxford. I felt privileged to be there and to study with fine teachers in such a beautiful place. I also felt lonely.

When the Oxford course was over, I had a little time to play tourist. One place I visited was the Glastonbury Tor. From atop it, I could see a low, flat hill to the south. I asked our guide what it was. "It's Cadbury Hill," he said. "Legend says it was Camelot."

I had always been a writer as well as an actor, and I was chronicling my experiences and feelings about the trip in a little velvet diary. But I didn't need to write that down. The idea of Camelot as a real place would not leave me. I wanted to visit the real Camelot. And at last, I did.

[kerryreis57 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For Cassandra "Casey" Clemens, her 40th birthday has been a disaster. Her Hollywood career as a product spokesperson for a well-known cleaner has just gone up in smoke and she has just discovered that her boyfriend is not divorcing his wife, since the wife is about to have a baby. Impulsively, Casey hops on a plane to England and heads to the countryside near Stonehenge to forget her troubles. After settling into a small bed and breakfast, she rents a horse for a local countryside ride, only to be caught in a freak rainstorm. A nearby lightning strike and a skidding car sends her off her horse and into a gap back in history where she inadvertently saves the life of King Arthur from Saxon swordsmen. Now, she finds herself as a trusted "wizard" in a sixth century court full of intrigue. Can she find a way to make her way back to her own time? This was a very enjoyable and intriguing modern version of Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" with a wry gender twist of having a SoCal advertising actress be the time-traveling heroine. In addition, research has been done to create a more historically accurate version of how King Arthur and his rough culture would have been as opposed to the mythological chivalrous version known to Twain. This creates a harsher, more adventurous tale without the bitter satire but with more complex romantic conflicts. Well written and well edited.

[carol_w-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this time-travel historical fantasy thoroughly enjoyable. There have been so many different takes on the King Arthur legend, but it never ceases to inspire and never seems to wear out. This one carves out its niche by taking us to a historical place and time: a hill fort in early post-Roman Britain - and giving us a spin on what the man who inspired the legend - and some of the other players in that tragedy - might really have been like. It's a little like Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" - but not very much. This is a character-driven story. It's a journey of discovery for the main character, Casey. This is not a glamorous or romantic Camelot. There is no magic, other than the time travel that brings a woman of our time into Arthur's world. Instead there are believable people, in a historically plausible setting, who are facing real human problems complicated by a culture and beliefs that are specific to their time. Casey is flung into this, bringing her own emotional baggage (though very little physical luggage.) The writing is solid throughout, brilliant in places. The ending satisfied the romantic in me without violating the story's historical logic. This is Burchard's first novel and I hope it won't be her last.

[Robert Chirino · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Exceptional book, one of the best I've read in years. Moving and thought-provoking, not to mention captivating. A fantastic read, and one of my new favorites. Thank you Mrs. Burchard.