Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
11:07 pm July 18, 2006: I've just started reading a book that seems so familiar. Not the book itself but the tale. A 7th son of a 7th son has 7 children but the 7th child is a girl, not a son.
Life was idillyc (sp) growing up and the girl was loved and well protected by her brothers. Her father a widower, her mother died in birthing her. They live deep in the forest where the Tuatha de Danann (the fairy folk) are said to reside and sometimes play tricks on wanderers in the forest. The father is a great leader/warrior who eventually remarries. The woman is fair of face but evil and cunning underneath. Most of the brothers see it, the daughter also. Each brother has a skill (warrior, scribe (druid), animal husbandry, lightheartedness, etc. The girl is a healer. The stepmother curses the children but the daughter escapes. She pleads to the Lady of the Forest who appears and tells her how to break the enchantment.
I'm sure I've read the tale but cannot put my finger on the title or the author of the tale I'm sure I've read. At the moment the daughter is working on breaking the enchantment but it will be a long road, and she is only at the beginning of that road.
I finished the book late last night and found it to be a beautiful version of the tale. The story is chock full of fairy folk, good Christian folk, good Old Way folk, the Irish and the Britons war, deception, spells, loves lost and found and family.
The family is the head family of a settlement and they each protect and nurture the people of the settlement. It is a time of war and skirmishes. Each child with a will and a way of their own each help and sometimes hinder their fathers campaigns. Finbar, the closest brother to Sorcha does not agree with the killing/dispatching of caught enemies and he secretly releases a captured Briton who has been tortured with in an inch of his life. Sorcha secretly helps him and soon is tending to the injured man without her father and most of her brothers knowledge. She and the injured man are nearly caught and Sorcha must leave the man before he is fully healed. Sorcha does not know it but she's left a great impression on the man.
Sorcha is the daugher deemed strong enough to travel the path to save her 6 brothers from an enchantment laid by their evil stepmother. All of the brothers have been turned to swans and she can break the enchantment by never speaking a word, keeping the story of the enchantment from anyone who asks and is told to weave 6 shirts made from a plant that is full of thorns. The materials for the shirts must be collected, prepared and woven by Sorcha alone. Sorcha hides in the forest spending a full year working at her task. She is 15.
She is driven from her hiding spot by men who rape her and her 6 brothers appearance (they come to her twice a year, able to spend one night in human form. At dawn they return to their swan forms). The fairy queen appears to her with a boat and tells her to leave; the boat will take her to a new destination.
She is weak and reeling during her flight and is soon spotted by 3 men fleeing who save her from drowning. They take pity on her and she is lifted into arms and go with them. She cannot speak, they argue about what to do with the frightened fey girlchild.
The leader of the three is Red who is injured and Sorcha tends to his wounds even tho he is a Briton, an enemy. Red is visited by the fairy king and queen and after one night, they are rescued and make their way by sea to Briton.
Sorcha is thrust into a household where she is the enemy, Red tries to protect her from everyone who sees her as the enemy. She spends one year there, making a few friends but overall is ignored, bullied and ill-treated by most of the household.
The uncle of Red sees her as an important player in his personal quest to gain land in Ireland. He bullies and verbally abuses her, thinking he is safe from anyone knowing what he says because of Sorcha's silence.
Sorcha's protector Red was on her island searching for his missing brother, reported to be dead. Sorcha cannot tell Red about her nursing his brother but Red is slowly realizing that Sorcha might know something but her enchantment does not allow her to help him. She is driven to weaving her odd shirts and he allows her to complete the task by his grace.
After a time Red must leave again to look for his brother, he gives Sorcha a token, a ring and they are married to keep Sorcha safe while he is gone. The plan doesn't work as well as they'd hoped; the uncle plots and plans and Sorcha is eventually accused of sorcery and is destined to burn.
Life was idillyc (sp) growing up and the girl was loved and well protected by her brothers. Her father a widower, her mother died in birthing her. They live deep in the forest where the Tuatha de Danann (the fairy folk) are said to reside and sometimes play tricks on wanderers in the forest. The father is a great leader/warrior who eventually remarries. The woman is fair of face but evil and cunning underneath. Most of the brothers see it, the daughter also. Each brother has a skill (warrior, scribe (druid), animal husbandry, lightheartedness, etc. The girl is a healer. The stepmother curses the children but the daughter escapes. She pleads to the Lady of the Forest who appears and tells her how to break the enchantment.
I'm sure I've read the tale but cannot put my finger on the title or the author of the tale I'm sure I've read. At the moment the daughter is working on breaking the enchantment but it will be a long road, and she is only at the beginning of that road.
I finished the book late last night and found it to be a beautiful version of the tale. The story is chock full of fairy folk, good Christian folk, good Old Way folk, the Irish and the Britons war, deception, spells, loves lost and found and family.
The family is the head family of a settlement and they each protect and nurture the people of the settlement. It is a time of war and skirmishes. Each child with a will and a way of their own each help and sometimes hinder their fathers campaigns. Finbar, the closest brother to Sorcha does not agree with the killing/dispatching of caught enemies and he secretly releases a captured Briton who has been tortured with in an inch of his life. Sorcha secretly helps him and soon is tending to the injured man without her father and most of her brothers knowledge. She and the injured man are nearly caught and Sorcha must leave the man before he is fully healed. Sorcha does not know it but she's left a great impression on the man.
Sorcha is the daugher deemed strong enough to travel the path to save her 6 brothers from an enchantment laid by their evil stepmother. All of the brothers have been turned to swans and she can break the enchantment by never speaking a word, keeping the story of the enchantment from anyone who asks and is told to weave 6 shirts made from a plant that is full of thorns. The materials for the shirts must be collected, prepared and woven by Sorcha alone. Sorcha hides in the forest spending a full year working at her task. She is 15.
She is driven from her hiding spot by men who rape her and her 6 brothers appearance (they come to her twice a year, able to spend one night in human form. At dawn they return to their swan forms). The fairy queen appears to her with a boat and tells her to leave; the boat will take her to a new destination.
She is weak and reeling during her flight and is soon spotted by 3 men fleeing who save her from drowning. They take pity on her and she is lifted into arms and go with them. She cannot speak, they argue about what to do with the frightened fey girlchild.
The leader of the three is Red who is injured and Sorcha tends to his wounds even tho he is a Briton, an enemy. Red is visited by the fairy king and queen and after one night, they are rescued and make their way by sea to Briton.
Sorcha is thrust into a household where she is the enemy, Red tries to protect her from everyone who sees her as the enemy. She spends one year there, making a few friends but overall is ignored, bullied and ill-treated by most of the household.
The uncle of Red sees her as an important player in his personal quest to gain land in Ireland. He bullies and verbally abuses her, thinking he is safe from anyone knowing what he says because of Sorcha's silence.
Sorcha's protector Red was on her island searching for his missing brother, reported to be dead. Sorcha cannot tell Red about her nursing his brother but Red is slowly realizing that Sorcha might know something but her enchantment does not allow her to help him. She is driven to weaving her odd shirts and he allows her to complete the task by his grace.
After a time Red must leave again to look for his brother, he gives Sorcha a token, a ring and they are married to keep Sorcha safe while he is gone. The plan doesn't work as well as they'd hoped; the uncle plots and plans and Sorcha is eventually accused of sorcery and is destined to burn.
posted by vivage @ 7/18/2006 11:03:00 PM
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