Cynthia Sally Haggard's Blog: Cynthia Sally's Blog, page 50

Juliet Marillier’s WILDWOOD DANCING (WILDWOOD #1)

[image error]This is such a charming story, for both young folk and adult alike. Taking the well-known fairy tales of THE FROG PRINCE and THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES, author Juliet Marilier puts her own spin on them by setting this novel in the Roumanian forest. A lighter tale than her Sevenwaters Trilogy, nevertheless her characters do not have an easy time. This coming-of-age tale reflects the heartbreak and excitement of five sisters finding their life partners and going their separate ways. Both Tatiana and Jenica (the two eldest) find theirs in unlikely places.

The only complaint I had about this novel was that some of the dialogue seemed too modern. This was especially so when Jenica was standing up for her family. For some reason the phrase “I’m not prepared to…” really jarred. I just wish that the language could have sounded older and less cliched. Four stars.

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Juliet Marillier’s HEART’S BLOOD

[image error]HEARTS BLOOD by Juliet Marillier is her retelling of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, but she makes this story so much her own, I actually didn’t recognize the original tale, only learning that it was based on the well-known fairy story after I’d finished reading it and was perusing the Amazon reviews.

Deftly downplaying Beauty’s beauty and the Beast’s ugliness, Marillier turns this tale into one about the power of hope to overcome sorrow. Although there are some fantasy elements, this story is firmly grounded in history, in the Norman conquest of Ireland either under Henry I (1100-1135) or his grandson Henry II (1154-1189).

IMHO HEARTS BLOOD is a wonderfully told tale, on a par with the SEVENWATERS sagas. Five stars.

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Reading Sundays: LADY OF SPADES (Part 1) a short story by Cynthia Sally Haggard

[image error]The mists from the river curl silently, coiling cold tentacles of air up into the sky. Through the silence, I can feel them, almost breathe in the expectations of these young men from around the kingdom that have been summoned, so that I might choose a husband. My father, the King, is recently deceased, so my choice of bridegroom will be the new king.

I, however, have other plans.

I choose to call myself Lady of Spades, for my real name is unimportant. In any case I will not be using it for much longer. From the highest point of the Castel des Cosses, I look down on a forest of banners gathered thickly below, proclaiming the noble houses of this kingdom. Clinks, clangs, and clashes cut into a rumble of male voices. My armor, shield, and sword are things I keep invisible to others, but they are real to me. I lengthen my neck. What lies ahead can mean either freedom, or en-cagement, and early death.

I descend the stairs, and am helped onto my horse. The portcullis grates open, inching up, and the first party of horsemen ride out bearing my emblem of the Spade. Once they are arrayed in front of the castle, one of their number sounds a winding note on a horn:

dooh – DOOOOOH!

It is time. [To be continued.]

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EMPRESS by Shan Sa

[image error]This fictionalized biography of the Empress Wu (17 February 624 to 16 December 705 CE) aka Wu Zetian, Wu Zhao, Wu Hou (Empress Wu) or Tian Hou (Empress Tian) shows the unbelievable rise of a tomboy of a girl who loved horses, archery, and masculine pursuits, who caught the eye of a general when very young (about ten or eleven), was sent to the Imperial Court as a concubine of the 5th degree (she had to compete with 10 THOUSAND other girls for Emperor Taizong’s notice), was actually noticed for her horsemanship (rather than her beauty) and became friends with the Emperor’s ninth son (who eventually became the Heir to the Throne.) After marrying the ninth son (now Emperor Gaozong), Wu dismissed (and murdered) her rivals (her husband’s Chief Wife and his Chief Concubine) bore the Emperor six children (including four sons and two future emperors) and rose to power as her husband sank into a quagmire of depression, self-doubt, and eventual death. Wu became the Ruler behind the Throne, the Regent, and lastly the only female Emperor (or Regnal Empress) that China has known.

Her father was in the timber business and her family were relatively well off, so they had servants to work for them. But how does the middle daughter of a timber merchant become the Regnal Empress of China? In the Seventh Century?

Of course, her father saw to it that she was extremely well-educated, and, according to this novel, did not insist that she spend her time on such girlish pursuits as sewing. But such a person would have had to have a natural aggression, unfeminine confidence and overweening ambition to even think of aspiring to the highest position in the land.

How I loved the music of the wonderful prose that graces this book. How I loved reading that Wu, in one of her many defenses against her enemies described her reputation as “fragrant.” How I loved that all the Chinese names and titles were translated into English, so that we know that Wu’s name was Heaven-light. No wonder she had such self-confidence!

Her children’s names are equally revealing and ironic. Splendor, the eldest son and heir who died at an early age, was a scholarly fellow who (apparently) didn’t want the throne. Wisdom was NOT wise. His relationship with his mother/aunt deteriorated, and eventually he was accused of treason. His mother/aunt saw to his murder-by-suicide. Future (aka Emperor Zhongzhong) was outspoken and independent. His mother stripped him of his titles and forced him into exile for his insolence against her Regency. His reign lasted six weeks. Miracle, the youngest son (aka Emperor Ruizong) also apparently didn’t want the throne, and according to this novel gave the throne to his mother. (Or, perhaps, he was weak like his father, and his mother imprisoned him in the Inner Quarter so that she could take power.)

I won’t go over the viperish power-struggles and jealousies of the various women in Wu’s family and at court, but suffice it to say that if you enjoy that sort of thing, this novel will give you a great deal of pleasure. Five stars.

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FLAME OF SEVENWATERS (SEVENWATERS #6) by Juliet Marillier

[image error]I loved FLAME OF SEVENWATERS.

Author Juliet Marillier did a wonderfully sensitive job with disability. If one is a differently-abled person it is more difficult to find the things in life that matter most: Access to nature, access to classes and a partner who loves us despite our flaws.

I won’t talk about the plot here so as not to spoil the story. Suffice it to say that the stakes are high, it has wonderful plot twists and a satisfyingly resonant ending. Five stars.

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HEIR TO SEVENWATERS (SEVENWATERS #4) by Juliet Marillier

[image error]HEIR TO SEVENWATERS is the fourth volume in what was originally meant to be the Sevenwaters Trilogy. But author Juliet Marillier created such an evocative landscape with such interesting characters that readers were clamoring for more. Six years after CHILD OF PROPHECY, Ms. Marillier wrote this volume, about the adventures of Clodagh, the third daughter of Lord Sean of Sevenwaters and his wife Aisling.

Clodagh sees herself as a boring, ordinary young woman. But of course, she isn’t ordinary at all. When her baby brother Finbar is taken, and a changeling put in its place, Clodagh meets the challenge of bringing her brother back from the Otherworld. Along the way, she meets a soul-mate in the form of Cathal, a prickly young man, given to sarcasm and sudden changes in mood. Derisive about the Fair Folk and other supernatural beings, he seems to be the last person who could help Clodagh in her quest to get her brother back. But all is not as it seems.

Whereas Sorcha and Liadan of the first two books seem almost superhuman in their personalities and achievements, Fainne and Clodagh seem more like real people, and therefore more endearing to the reader. In Clodagh, the heroine who is so good at running a household, readers are sure to find a protagonist they will love. Five stars.

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Reading Sundays: THE MARRIED MAN (Part 12) a short story by Cynthia Sally Haggard

The last time I visited Sid in his modest home in Hook, Surrey,[image error] was in the summer of 1922. His lungs still bothered him, but now he had Doll to fuss over him, and Anita to give him a future. I placed a silver sixpence in my niece’s chubby hands, and said my goodbyes, hoping that this time when I disappeared, Sid would follow up on the hints I was dropping, about going off to Australia to start a new life away from Beat.

I never intended to commit bigamy, it is an offense punishable by several years in prison. Some will wonder why I didn’t change my name, but that wasn’t possible given the circumstances. I didn’t want to alarm Emmy, or her family. I knew Beat meant it when she said she would never give me up.

I’m not proud of myself. I was a disappointment to my parents, a fool for marrying Beat when I should’ve known better, and a liar to Emmy and her family.

***

Another rummage, and two death notices appear:

CAVELEY

Mrs. Florence Emily, née Richards.

On 31 December 1988 in Thurrock, Essex…

CAVELEY

Mrs. Beatrice Victoria, née Hough.

On 30 June 1980 in Epsom, Surrey…

Grandpa Sidney named his only son after the brother who vanished. He died at Hook, Surrey, in June, 1950, aged 59 years. When Robert Prisley Caveley died in January, 1962, aged 73 years, he was still living in Thurrock, still married to Emmy.

He escaped notice for over forty years.

THE END

The Married Man first appeared in Down in the Dirt.

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Juliet Marillier’s CHILD OF THE PROPHECY (SEVENWATERS #3)

[image error]CHILD OF THE PROPHECY is the third book in the Sevenwaters Trilogy. Told from the point of view of Fainne, daughter of Niamh and Ciaran, it tells of a sad tale of a young girl whose love for her father is used as a weapon against her.

Fainne is a sorceress-in-training, taught by her father. But when she reaches her fourteenth year, he decides that she needs a woman to be there for her. As her mother is dead, he invites her grandmother to stay. Unfortunately, that grandmother is the Lady Oonagh, whom we first met in the first Sevenwaters Chronicle, the one who cast the spell turning the six brothers into swans.

Juliet Marillier is a gifted author who not only writes gorgeous prose but also can create well-thought-out plot-lines and tough, believable characters. In Fainne, we have a lonely young girl who is trying to do the right thing against enormous odds. Five stars.

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Juliet Marillier’s SON OF THE SHADOWS (SEVENWATERS #2)

I didn’t think it possible that Juliet Marillier could top her achievement of DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST, the first of the Sevenwaters Trilogy, which is also a re-telling of the Grimm’s Fairy Tale THE SIX SWANS.

But I found [image error]SON OF THE SHADOWS, the second book of the Sevenwaters Trilogy even more gripping. Lady Sorcha, the heroine of the first book, is now a mother to three children. Her eldest, Niamh, is a stunning beauty, with a river of golden red hair and intense blue eyes. The other two, Sean and Liadan are twins, both dark, and slight like their mother. Lady Liadan has followed in her mother’s footsteps and become an accomplished healer, and this book is told from her point of view.

As before, Ms. Marillier presents us with tough, believable characters, power politics, and difficult heart-wrenching decisions that her characters have to make. But most glorious of all, is her delicious prose.

That spring we had visitors. Here in the heart of the great forest, the old ways were strong despite the communities of men and women that now spread over our land, their Christian crosses stark symbols of a new faith. From time to time, travelers would bring across the sea tales of great ills done to folk who dared keep the old traditions. There were cruel penalties, even death, for those who left an offering maybe, for the harvest gods or thought to weave a simple spell for good fortune or use a potion to bring back a faithless sweetheart. The druids were all slain or banished over there.

Her ear is faultless and the pacing and rhythm of the words give a timeless, haunting quality to this novel, which is carefully shrouded in the mists of the past. Here is another example.

We walked down the avenues of oaks, as golden leaves spiraled around us in a freshening breeze and squirrels busied themselves, preparing for the dark time. We went by the lake’s gray waters and up the course of the seventh stream, swelling with autumn rains to a miniature torrent. It was a steep climb over tumbled stones whose surfaces were curiously patterned, as if some strange finger had marked each with a secret language, whose codes existed only in the mind of one long departed.

Perfect. Five stars.

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Juliet Marillier’s DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST (SEVENWATERS #1)

[image error]It takes eight pages for conflict to erupt in DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST, for the first plot point to be anchored to the story, when Finbur quietly defies his father’s anger and refuses to go fight with him.

But it doesn’t matter. The prose is gorgeous and well-fitted for this story, a re-telling of the Grimm’s Fairy Tale THE SIX SWANS. Let me give you an example:

I don’t remember Finbur answering, but later that day, as dusk was falling, he took me back to the lakeshore. In the half light over the water, we saw the swans come home. The last low traces of sun caught a white movement in the darkening sky.

Beautiful. The prose has a dream-like quality well-fitted to a folk tale, or a story of ancient Ireland where Juliet Mariller has chosen to set this tale.

As you are well aware, I am interested in craft, and in seeing what a truly wonderful writer can do. Here is an example of the sheer power of well-chosen words. An example of how you can get away without conflict, or an obvious hook, as long as you have the talent to weave a spell and send the reader into a trance. Five stars.

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