Child of the Prophecy Book

The third of Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters trilogy, Child of the Prophecy takes us back to a magical Dark Ages Ireland in which everything is to play for--the decisions of a few members of a crucial family will effect how humanity relates to the natural world ever after. Fainne is reared in seclusion by her mournful sorcerer father after the suicide of her mother and learns not only magic but self-control. When her father and lover are taken magically hostage by her wicked grandmother--the Oonagh who turned seven brothers to swans in "Lady of the Forest"--Fainne needs all her intelligence and skill to fight off Oonagh's attempts to corrupt her. She comes progressively to love the family she is sent to harm and to admire Johnny, the golden youth whose death will turn events Oonagh's way. With a watch kept on her very thoughts, and tricked into terrible acts, Fainne's position is desperate. Marillier is a virtuoso of emotional pain, and Fainne lives closer to the edge than any of her heroines. These are books in which life lived close to nature is central to the scheme of things, and Marillier writes of it with attractive delicacy; this is a powerful and suspenseful completion of a popular trilogy. --Roz KaveneyRead More