[Eventine]

Come on - make your further comments. This is a discussion forum after all :)

[Leiali]

Well - you only have yourself to blame now...

The blend of iron age (I think) history and Irish myth and magic are also beautifully crafted in the book. I found Oonagh to be exactly what a villain in this 'fairy tale' should be. She may have been a little two dimensional, but she was never the focus of the plot. I think the plot was about Sorcha finding the strength to endure the terrible trials put in her path by her wicked Step Mother.
The fact that the heroine is a female protagonist who is not masculine, is not a warrior or a powerful magician or a manipulative and brilliant politician is a breath of fresh air. Despite the extraordinary and fantastic circumstances, you feel a sense of realism in who she is and struggles to be.
And did I say how much I enjoyed reading about Red?

[Rob B]

Well - you only have yourself to blame now...

The blend of iron age (I think) history and Irish myth and magic are also beautifully crafted in the book. I found Oonagh to be exactly what a villain in this 'fairy tale' should be. She may have been a little two dimensional, but she was never the focus of the plot. I think the plot was about Sorcha finding the strength to endure the terrible trials put in her path by her wicked Step Mother.
I've been really coming to this thought as well, Oonagh was more of a catalyst than anything, and in that function, she was well handled.
The fact that the heroine is a female protagonist who is not masculine, is not a warrior or a powerful magician or a manipulative and brilliant politician is a breath of fresh air. Despite the extraordinary and fantastic circumstances, you feel a sense of realism in who she is and struggles to be.

And did I say how much I enjoyed reading about Red?
The strength of Sorcha's character, down to her heart, was laid out very well, I thought.

[mcgin]

Hi. I am new to this forum ( a very good friend of mine is a co-founder of a videogame forum) . But I just finished reading Daughter of the Forest a couple of days ago. It was great, it hit very close to home for me. I can relate to Sorcha in more ways than one. I wish I had a sibling who I could have her kind of relationship with, being an only child sucks most of the time. I do have a friend who is sort of a surrogate brother to me. I could relate to Sorcha's silence mostly because of the fact that much of my own suffering is done in silence. I'm normally not the type to cry at fiction but even I couldn't get through that book without shedding a few tears. Sorcha goes through things that no girl or woman should ever have to go through if you know what I mean. I could see where some people wouldn't enjoy it, you have to be oriented psychologically like I am to willing to delve very deep into Sorcha's world like that.
I don't blame her brothers for wanting Lady Oonagh dead, if I were them, I would, too.
One other thing that really touched me is the sort of twist that Sorcha falls for Red in though I understand that he wanted to find out for sure whether his brother Simon was still alive or not, I have to admit was a little angry that he would go away and leave Sorcha alone and unprotected like that and she almost loses her life as a result.

[Fola]

Quite a few readers feel that Sorcha should have ended up with Simon rather than Red. I don't see it that way (if I did, I guess that's the way I would have written it!) Red makes a judgement when he goes off to look for Simon - he believes that as his wife, Sorcha will be safe, especially with John to keep an eye on her. He underestimates the power of superstition and his uncle's influence. He is the perfect partner for Sorcha, strong, reliable and selfless, someone she can trust completely.

Simon, along with Sorcha's brothers, represents the fact that happy endings in fairy tales cannot be happy for every single person in the story. Inevitably, the dark events that occur and the trials people undergo will do some longterm damage along the way, and the way people respond to them reflects their individual strengths and weaknesses.

[mcgin]

I agree that Sorcha should be with Red since I believe that Red was better able to protect her than Simon would've ever been. That was quite an achievement she made, winning Simon over like she did and she was only ten if not younger when she did and that was before the Lady Oonagh arrived. I knew that her winning Simon over like that when I first read it was a foreshadow of some kind.
DoTF is a fairy tale all on its own. You know that in the child fairy tales (e.g. Cinderella), the main character usually has to go through some kind of suffering but silence usually isn't involved. What Sorcha went through is a deeper dark hole than most. Like in almost all fairy tales, Sorcha falls for a man forbidden to her and her kin and he with her. But he says that even though Sorcha was silent and all, he knew that she was being no one but herself and he hated to have to see her suffer from that nasty starwort plant. Though five years ago when I was going through a mutilation phase (which was connected to something else that I will not utter here), I would not have minded working with starwort myself.
Yet everything Sorcha goes through counts for her whole family, she not only successfully saved her brothers but I believe that she also prevented Lord Colum from committing suicide since by the time they arrive back home, they find him so sorely depressed that it's as if he knows no other world outside of himself.
And when they finally welcome Red in the family, all is best even though the brothers slowly leave the house, Finbar being the first.

[mcgin]

I believe that Sorcha's silence represents the fact that some of our best work (not to mention planning) is done in silence. Some people don't think so but let me tell ya, I have acheived some of my best accomplishments in silence and in secret.
Sorcha is a hero in silence, quietly lifting the spell that the evil Lady Oonagh bestowed upon them. She's the one who almost dies yet her brothers are living a life almost worse than death. They way they describe it, it is as if their souls have been completely sucked out when they change into swans. I strongly believed from the time I first read that part that the reason that the Forest Lady had Sorcha do her work in silence was actually an empathy with her brothers as swans. Yet later on in the book, it seems as if the Fair Folk are either trying to tease Sorcha or make fun of her in some other way, making it harder for her to complete the shirts out of starwort.
What makes this so tragic is that Sorcha starts out going through this when she's still a little girl and then (if you get the idea) becomes a woman while still enduring that terrible silence. And no girl/woman should ever have to go through that.