During that time my style and general approach to writing have changed a lot. JM: It was definitely a challenge going back to the Sevenwaters setting after so long – I wrote seven other books in between CHILD OF THE PROPHECY and HEIR TO SEVENWATERS. Q: What unique challenges did this book pose for you, if any? The challenges to attitudes and perceptions are bigger hurdles for some of the characters: learning that everyone deserves love, however physically or emotionally flawed he or she may be coming to terms with one’s own weaknesses learning that friendship can triumph over jealousy learning the strength of a mother’s love for her child. JM: There are plenty of physical challenges, and these test Clodagh to the limit – she is not a physically adventurous person, but her innate practicality helps her. Q: What do your characters have to overcome in this story? What challenge do you set before them? Her companion on this quest is not the highly suitable young man she likes, but a more mysterious character who has far too many secrets to be trusted. Now she must undertake a desperate journey into an unknown realm in an attempt to put things right for her family. Clodagh’s main skill lies in household management. The first person narrator is the daughter of an Irish chieftain, whose world is turned upside down when a devastating event befalls her family at the birth of a long-awaited son. People need not have read those earlier books to enjoy this one.

It’s a blend of romantic historical novel and folkloric fantasy.

In other words, it’s set in Ireland in early Christian times. JM: HEIR TO SEVENWATERS is a stand-alone novel but shares the same setting as my first series, the Sevenwaters Trilogy. Q: What would you like people to know about the story itself? The great strength of the protagonist, Clodagh (that’s pronounced kloh-da) is her capacity to accept difference – something not all the characters are so ready to do. A storyteller named Willow tells three tales near the beginning, but the characters listening are slow to pick up the fact that this is more than after-supper entertainment. It also includes something quite dear to my heart, the power of storytelling to help people solve real life problems. There are several strands dealing with the relationship between parent and child. JM: HEIR TO SEVENWATERS has a theme of identity and alienation.

We’re eager to learn more about her new work and happy she took time out for this Take Five interview. Juliet, who’s also a valued contributor here at WU, is known not only for the uniquely detailed worlds she creates in her epic fantasies–featuring her signature blend of well-researched mythology and magical realism–but for her mellifluous prose and characters that all but breathe through the page. release of internationally acclaimed and best-selling novelist Juliet Marillier’s latest work, Heir to Sevenwaters.

Juliet marillier heir to sevenwaters