Books: Daughter of the Forest

Daughter of the Forest
by Juliet Marillier
Copyright 2000
544 pages

One of the best fantasy books I have read in a while. The book is set in Ireland, in the time when Celtic myths reigned and fought against the incoming Christianity brought by the Britons.

Sorcha is the seventh child of a seventh child. Her mother died giving birth to her, and her six brothers essentially raised her while her father was off being tribal lord.

She and some of her brothers have mystic powers; they converse telepathically, for instance. She is a healer. She seems set on this path, but her father brings home a woman.

The new wife is an evil enchantress who eventually turns her brothers into swans. The lady of the forest tells Sorcha that only she can break the spell, but to do so, she must weave each brother a shirt from a horrid plant that cuts her hands and tears into her flesh. She also cannot speak until she has transformed her brothers back into men. She goes into seclusion to perform this task.

However, she is found by some very bad men who do what bad men do to lone women. She runs, and eventually is saved from drowning by Red, an Englishman who is searching for his lost brother. The brother is a man Sorcha once saved and she has a keepsake from him which Red recognizes. He takes her home to his manor in England.

Sorcha is not welcomed there, but Red insists she is his guest. She continues to work on her project, but Red has an evil uncle who wants her. Red leaves her to go back hunting for his brother, and the uncle takes control. He has Sorcha tried as a witch.

At the last moment, she turns her brothers back into men, and they, along with Red, keep her from being burned at the stake. One brother does not return all the way, however, because the shirt wasn't completely finished.

Sorcha returns home with her brothers, but realizes she is love with Red.

At home, the evil enchantress has fled with her son, leaving their father a shell of man. The estate is in ruins; the brothers set about to making things right.

Red turns up to claim Sorcha, and there is much rejoicing. However, the ending is not entirely happy - or sappy.

This book is very well written. The story line is solid, the characters well-crafted and the whole affair is nicely drawn. I will read more of this author's work.

4 stars