Whistling Tor is populated by spirits – not all of them benevolent – who are haunted themselves haunted by their past misdeeds, failings, and poor choices. Although there are hints here and there of the fae, this isn’t a fairytale: it’s a ghost story. HEART’S BLOOD is an incredibly successful retelling not because it’s faithful to the original, but because it completely reinvents the story, setting, and characters while preserving the tone of the original. Despite herself, Caitrin begins to care for the ragtag crew, from the former warchief Rioghan to the councillor Magnus…and even Lord Anluan himself. Surely the rumours about the place and its inhabitants are untrue, although there’s clearly something unusual about the folk who call Whistling Tor home.

But with nowhere else to go and her funds running out, Caitrin decides to accept a position transcribing Latin documents in the library of Whistling Tor for the summer. The villagers living around the hold claim that the castle is haunted by “unnatural folk” and run by a monstrous, incompetent chieftain named Anluan and warn Caitrin away from the cursed place. In a world seemingly overrun with Beauty and the Beast retellings, Juliet Marillier’s HEART’S BLOOD stands out – and proves that talented writers can make even the oldest and most familiar stories feel new again.įleeing an abusive home life and a terrible personal loss, a young scribe named Caitrin stumbles upon the eerie community of Whistling Tor. To free Anluan’s burdened soul, Caitrin must unravel the web of sorcery woven by his ancestors before it claims his life and their love… « Hide Spoiler

Retained to sort through entangled family documents, Caitrin brings about the unexpected changes in the household, casting a hopeful light against the despairing shadows.īut even as Caitrin brings solace to Anluan, and the promise of something more between them, he remains in thrall to the darkness surrounding Whistling Tor. Then the young scribe Caitrin appears in Anluan’s garden, admiring the rare plant known as heart’s blood. And Anluan himself has been crippled by a childhood illness. The woods hold a perilous force whose every whisper threatens doom. View Spoiler » A curse lies of Anluan’s family and his people. Whistling Tor is a place of secrets, a mysterious wooded hill housing the crumbling fortress of a chieftain whose name is spoken throughout the region in tones of revulsion and bitterness.

Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier