Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier

Since Juliet Marillier became my new fav author this summer after reading her to-die-for Sevenwaters series, I’d been eagerly anticipating her newest novel set in a slightly later, early Christian Ireland. What I didn’t know beforehand was that the story had elements of Beauty and the Beast, which I noticed straightaway. Later I was happy to realize that it was the Jane Eyre similarities, the Gothic romance feel and Marillier’s deft touch for the otherwordly that made this a suitably chilling autumn read.

Young but experienced-worn Caitrin is an anomaly for her day and age: she’s a scribe who can read and write both Irish and Latin. Her late father taught and trained her with the care most would only show sons. Ironically though he has prepared Caitrin well for her lot when he suddenly dies leaving her in the abusive hands of distant relations claiming heir to the family estate. After nearly permanently becoming a fragile shell of her former self, Caitrin manages to flee with her writing box to the unwelcoming keep of Whistling Tor. But luck is on her side when she overhears a man from the chieftain’s estate on the hill looking for a scribe and hard on his heels finally overtakes him and presents herself as a qualified candidate. This is not before she meets the flame-haired crippled chieftain Anulan in his garden who is shockingly bitter and skeptical of her talents. But as his only hope, he quickly agrees to take her on in one last desperate attempt to free his family from an ancient curse. To do so however Caitrin will need to untangle generations-long knots of sorcery contained in disorganized and crumbling family documents. Compounded with a mysterious eldritch force whispering in the woods, enchanted mirrors and the threat of Norman invaders, Caitrin must face the fact that Anulan may never be freed and she will never be whole again.

As you can tell, Heart’s Blood is part-fantasy, part-historical fiction, part-ghost story. And if you’re like me hearing those last two categorical words can be a turn off. But surprisingly as much as I liked Anulan and Caitrin and the sacrifices they make to heal themselves and those around them, it was the “ghost” characters that really shined. Gearrog, the little girl, and Rioghan have suffered sorely in both their mortal lives and cursed existences after death yet still so fearlessly face the towering obstacles ahead, what’s not to love? Likewise the atypical moral message of showing courage step by step and Anulan and Caitrin’s shared journey from weak to strong added a twist of interest to the story that is sure to appeal. While the slow, stop-and-go development of their relationship wasn’t seizing and there was some predictability to the identity of the main villain, the plot kept me guessing and the ending delighted me in its sweet unexpectedness of happily ever after for all of the characters.