Due out this Tuesday in the U.S., Heart's Blood, by Juliet Marillier plays with my favorite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. It came out a month ago in the UK, here's the cover there via Amazon.co.uk. So far the reader reviews on Amazon.co.uk are five stars.
Description from the publisher:
The national bestselling "fine folklorist and gifted narrator"(Publishers Weekly) of the Sevenwaters novels conjures a new sweeping romantic fantasy.
Anluan has been crippled since childhood, part of a curse that has besieged his family and his home of Whistling Tor. But when the young scribe Caitrin is retained to sort through family documents, she brings about unexpected changes in the household, casting a hopeful light against the despairing shadows.
But to truly free Anluan's burdened soul, Caitrin must unravel the web of sorcery woven by his ancestors before it claims his life-and their love...
Not very helpful, is it?
Never fear, Marillier has a section on her site for the book. There's an excerpt available on her site as well as a pronunciation guide. The names are Gaelic, not elaborate creations of the author.
Even better, here is an excerpt from her author's notes for the book that explains some of her development of the story. There are spoilers further on that page (not here) so click through at your own risk if you haven't read the book yet. She explains more about the plot and how the hero is a beast as well as her setting choices.
Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favourite fairy tales, and readers will recognise the bones of it in Heart’s Blood: a mysterious house with an alienated, disfigured master, a priceless plant growing in a forbidden garden, magic mirrors and unusual household retainers. The story of my novel has the same general shape as that of Beauty and the Beast.
However, this is far from a fairy tale retelling. It’s not even a close reinterpretation of the traditional tale. Heart’s Blood is a love story, a ghost story, a family saga, a story about people overcoming their difficulties, and a little slice of Irish history, as well as a homage to a favourite fairy tale. There were elements of Beauty and the Beast that I really wanted to include – the bittersweet central relationship, the mysterious setting – and aspects that I knew I didn’t want. I like a female protagonist who follows her own path and fights her own battles. I did not want Caitrin to be as passive as Beauty, who is so much at the mercy of her family’s poor decisions. I took out the character of Beauty’s father, making Caitrin an orphan. Rather than being sent to the Beast’s house because her father stole a rose for her, Caitrin joins Anluan’s household of her own free will. However, she brings with her a heavy load of past troubles, and has her own emotional journey to make. The cliché selfish sisters of the fairy tale are replaced by Caitrin’s grasping kinsfolk, and her reluctant journey home, later in the book, is part of the personal quest she must undertake in order to defeat her demons. In addition, I made Caitrin not simply someone’s daughter, but a skilled craftswoman seeking to earn her own living in a time and culture where independence for women was rare.
Finally, here is a link to a thoughtful reader review at Tempting Persephone. I haven't found any professional reviews yet but I'm sure they are coming considering Marillier's name.
Marillier, of course, is adept with using fairy tales in her lush and compelling novels. Her first was the wonderful Daughter of the Forest, which draws inspiration from the Six Swans. More recently she has offered Wildwood Dancing which draws from Twelve Dancing Princesses, vampire lore and other folklore. In other words, Marillier's favorite tales tend to mesh well with mine.
I preordered my copy a while back and can't wait for it to arrive this week.
Daughter of the Forest is part of the reason Six Swans and other retellings of it remain in my top favorite fairytales, to tell or hear. I'll have to look into this one...
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