The Crystal Cave

by Mary Stewart

First book in the Arthurian Saga. Merlin's childhood is formed by the absence of his reticent, convent-bound mother and his unnamed and unknown father. As the bastard grandson of a local king, Merlin is the object of both envy and ridicule. His strange powers and predictions earn him greater status as a pariah, and he leaves home as a preadolescent. Returning years later as a young man - empowered by self-knowledge and magic - Merlin finds himself caught in the currents of the shifting kingdoms.