Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

Daughter of the Forest – Juliet Marillier
Tor Books, 2001
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Sorcha is the seventh child and the only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Growing up without a mother, Sorcha and her brothers share a close bond, even if all of their characters differ. All too soon, their comfortable peace as a family is shattered when Lord Colum falls in love and takes a new wife. This new wife, as the children quickly find out, has enchanted their father. When she encounters only resistance from the children, she decides to bind the brothers by a spell, which only Sorcha may lift. To lift the spell, Sorcha is set a horrible task by the Fair Folk and their queen, in which she can only succeed if she remains silent throughout the whole period it takes to complete it. But when Sorcha is captured by her people’s enemies, the Brits, it becomes more uncertain than ever if she will be able to stick to her promise and save her brothers.

As you might have guessed, Daughter of the Forest is a retelling of the Six Swans fairy tale.

In Daughter of the Forest, a lot of attention is paid to the setting of the tale. What makes this interesting is that it adds a lot of magical feel to the story, as the setting leads Marillier to insert Celtic lore into the story. There are druids, tree spirits, fairy folk, and nature that may threaten or protect.

Moreover, Marillier emphasises the conflict between the Celts and the Britons. As Sorcha travels between her home and the foreign land of the Brits, the mutual distrust of the two parties come into focus, as do the believes in the other’s barbaric customs. Sorcha, in navigating these two worlds, inevitably challenges assumptions, without taking away from the fear and danger caused by a conflict such as this. Particularly interesting in this regard is the love story in which Sorcha plays a part.

What I loved about this book (and I did love it) was the atmospheric setting, the convincing storytelling, and the inevitable sympathy I felt for Sorcha’s plight. Many have complained about the slow beginning to the tale for the first 150 pages or so. I agree, it was slow, but it worked for me; as Marillier takes particular care to set up the story, I felt I truly became part of this world. Because I was allowed the time to familiarise myself with the strong relationship between Sorcha and her brothers it becomes a little more believable that she would go to such length, and through such cruelty, to save them.

Nevertheless, it was not an easy story to read. I feel that I should mention, despite that it might be considered a spoiler, that Sorcha experiences a particularly brutal rape somewhere in the second part of the story. Made even worse by the fact that she’s on her own and that she’s not allowed to utter a thing as she’s trying to break the curse put on her brothers.

While I often find myself questioning if it was necessary to add rape to any story, I can be found interested in how it is handled. In the case of Sorcha, I think her struggles, as I imagine them to be in real life, to be realistically portrayed. I especially appreciated how her distrust is handled: yes, she is scared of intimacy and men in particular, but it does not turn into an “all men are evil” or a women vs. men tale. When Sorcha expresses her fear of intimacy, this very portrayal is instead discussed.

I liked Daughter of the Forest enough to order the other two books in the trilogy, as well as the book itself as I only took it out from the library, from the book depository. I am not sure when I’ll read the other books, but someday… surely?

I read and reviewed Daughter of the Forest as part of Fairy Tale Friday and my personal Fairy Tale Project. Click over to the hosts of Fairy Tale Friday: Books 4 Learning and Literary Transgressions for more fairy tale themed posts.