 The novel was published in September 1992 by Zebra Books, with a cover designed by illustrator Anne Yvonne Gilbert. Lady of the Forest received generally positive reviews, and has been analyzed by Robin Hood scholar Stephen Thomas Knight, who observed that Roberson's Marian is a "strong woman" who helps Robert, a traumatized veteran of the Crusades, adjust to his life in England; Knight connects this to the "post-Vietnam" mood that existed when the novel was written. Roberson released a sequel, Lady of Sherwood, in 1999.
