Book Review and Interview: Daughter of the Forest; Juliet Marillier

Fiction: Daughter of the Forest
Author: Juliet Marillier
Genres: Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Romance

I remember that fateful day when I asked the librarian for an interesting fantasy novel and she picked one off the shelf, stuffed it in my hands and told me that I just had to read it. Little did I know that it would eventually become my favourite novel. If you’re a sucker for romance fantasy novels, perhaps you should flip through best-selling Daughter of the Forest and see how much you might like it.

Daughter of the Forest is basically a spin-off of a classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale called The Six Swans. Like numerous fairy tales, the main character Sorcha has to deal with an evil stepmother who not only spellbinds her father, but also curses her six brothers to become swans. Faced with the impossible task of overcoming challenging obstacles all on her own, Sorcha has to vow herself to silence and weave shirts of stinging nettles to break her brothers’ enchantment. However, with a twist of fate, Sorcha falls into the hands of the enemy, but also in love. Perhaps her biggest obstacle yet is deciding between “the life that she has always known and a love that comes only once”.

Unlike most fairy tale adaptations, Daughter of the Forest is not set against a backdrop of blue skies and pretty butterflies. More often than not, the impediments that Sorcha faces are realistic and meaningful. This is not a quick read, and sometimes deals with deep and grim situations. In addition, this novel also has a historic component to it. It’s set in Ireland and Britain in the ninth century, with a good description of the feud that pits both cultures against one another.

For the few days that I was engrossed in Daughter of the Forest, I think I was living in the world brought alive by Marillier’s “rich words”, as the librarian put it. I felt like I was brought to a world that I wished was in existence and was finally given the chance to experience; to watch a fairy tale play out before my eyes. One of the main characteristics of this book is its ability to incite emotions. I laughed and cried, both literally. For those who can’t get enough of it, there is a second and third book to this trilogy. However, I believe both are less compelling than the first one. To put it simply, this is a must read for all fantasy lovers.

- Annie

Short Bio

Juliet Marillier is an Australian best-selling author who was born in New Zealand and grew up listening to old Celtic legends and folktales. Some of her works include The Sevenwaters Trilogy, the Saga of the Light Isles and The Bridei Chronicles. They have been welcomed by many in eight languages. We were fortunate to get in touch with her through email and had this interview.

My Interview with Juliet Marillier


A: Is it really true that you wrote this all at one time as a 200 000 word blockbuster?

I did take three years to write Daughter of the Forest, because I was working fulltime in another job and was a single mother of two school-aged children. I worked on it evenings and weekends.

A: Was it hard for you to publish it? Did you get rejected at first?

Not very hard. I sent it to a local publisher for an opinion (I knew it wasn't the kind of book they published, but they had a policy of reading and commenting on any manuscript sent in by an author from this state.) They were very encouraging and suggested two mainstream publishers for me to try. Only one of those two accepted unsolicited manuscripts, so I sent an outline and three chapters to them. They asked to see the whole ms, and when they'd read it they made me an offer.

A: If I'm writing something and I get a writer's block, how do I get over it?

If you can't summon up the motivation to write something, it's probably better to put this piece of writing aside for awhile and try something completely different. I don't really believe in writer's block. You might get stuck on a particular piece of writing, but there should always be SOMETHING you can write, even if it's just a daily journal entry. If you're trying to write and can't get the flow happening, doing some exercise is a good circuit-breaker.

A: Did you get a chance to choose the cover you wanted for the book?

No. This is usually all done by the publishing house. Sometimes the author gets consulted - my Australian publisher is very good about this. Sometimes the author doesn't get to see the cover until it's all done. I found some of mine rather surprising! My best covers are the ones by the artist Kinuko Craft (American editions of Wolfskin, Foxmask, Wildwood Dancing and the forthcoming Cybele's Secret.) Kinuko always reads the whole book and captures the atmosphere perfectly in her painting.