Daughters of Nicnevin by Shona Kinsella
I would like to thank Flame Tree Press for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Flame Tree Press
Published – Out Now
Price – £20 hardback £4.95 ebook
Mairead and Constance, two powerful witches, meet in the early days of the 1745 Jacobite uprising. While the men of the village are away fighting, the villagers face threats from both the Black Watch and raiders, and the women are confronted with their vulnerability. They enlist the help of Nicnevin, fae queen of witches, to bring men made of earth to life to help protect their village. But just who do they need protection from? And what will happen when the village men return?
The stakes for a story in fantasy tend to be often about saving the world. But sometimes we need to consider well do we know the world, and more importantly do we care about it? It is often an issue when we are told the kingdom of Narrativedevicia is at stake and we’ve not really seen it or met the people in it. There are though other ways of reminding a reader what someone’s world means and making the stakes so linked to the character we are rooting for resolution. In Shona Kinsella’s excellent fantasy novel Daughters of Nicnevin we have a story with characters we both care about and intriguingly get alarmed by too
Scotland 1745 is a period where revolution is in the air. Bonnie Prince Charlie is rumoured to be returning to take back the family throne, and the Jacobite Rebellion is stirring. This means for many local communities’ choices are made whether to fight for their various alliances or tend to the crops and herds that keep villages alive. But not everyone is focused on the politics/ Mairead is a woman who tends to wander than settle roots, a gifted healer she is also a witch and although the Witch Trials have lessened a death sentence is still the punishment if discovered. She feels compelled to travel and an encounter with the Fae Queen of Witches Nicnevin sends her to the small village of Kilmartin.
In Kilmartin lives Constance a married mother of several children who also hides that she is a powerful magic user. Her husband Iain and many of the village’s men are off to fight for heir Prince but as winter looms the harvest need world and a small, unprotected village is often a target for all sorts of groups. Mairead and Constance discover each other’s powers and form a powerful bond between each other. They hatch a plan that could both save the village but also destroy each other.
This is a brilliant example of how storytelling can build characters who we know, care for and get surprised by. Kinsella carefully plants all the seeds into this story and just when we think as readers that we know what is going to happen we go into a direction that can be both unexpected but then we see there was a trail of signs this was where we are going to end up. A book that makes me do a double take and surprises me is always a treasure to read and this sets things up very well.
The Jacobite Rebellion is key to the story’s development but not its central focus. Kinsella uses the early stages of the story to flesh out he kind of world we are in. This Scotland is composed of lots of little town and villages all isolated and life is tough. Medicine is expensive and not always likely to work. A bad harvest can starve an entire community, and it becomes clear there are clearly defined roles for women and men. The old ways of magic are now frowned on and we see some clearly concerned over their immortal souls and starting a witch hunt in all kinds of use of the word. Women being expected to stay to their allotted role become a key theme. Constance is mother and expected to obey her husband; its been the only way she was taught to hide her powers from the world and Mairead with her own powers and nature has to pretend to be a widow to explain her lack of a man and constantly wonder to prevent being discovered and perhaps ultimately executed. Kinsella makes us feel these womens’ fears and that confined nature.
The decision of Kilmartin’s men to leave to fight then is the catalyst for many things. Mairead and Constance meet and bond very well. They finally meet someone who understands the other and yes there is indeed a strong romantic spark between these two which adds a further issue in a less than tolerant time. Events soon though get worse and Mairead acts to save someone and in so doing reveals to the remaining people of Kilmartin that she is a witch. It would have been easy to go down the witch trial route, but I actually liked we seemed to find people can be a lot more pragmatic and kinder than you think! For the first time Constance gets to step our of Ianin’s shadow and Mairead gets to be who she is (to some extent). Here the world is for the first time where these two characters get to be who they always where.
A key part of the story then is how can a village without the men actually farm and protect itself? The two witches and their fae patron Nicnevin come onto a smart ruse. The creation of stone men linked to villager’s life forces who can come alive and use their strength and speed to protect it. I really liked this spin on the familiar golem story and indeed as we watch the groups of bandits and English soldiers start to maraud the area, we see this idea has a lot of merit and builds up tension as t how things will finally climax.
So, it was very easy to think I know this type of story, and it is likely going to end in one way. But one of the major encounters I was expecting actually appears just two thirds in and thoroughly changes the story. What follows puts Mairead and Constance’s characters through the wringer in heartbreaking fashion. The tragedy of character should always be in their initial make up and in particular for Constance having the chance to finally be yourself is something no one wants to give up. I’ll leave it rash and bad decisions together can be a dreadful mix and what follows is a series of heartbreaking acts that really mean these two characters who seemed great for one another are now in conflict which as powerful magic wielders is a dangerous combination. Going back to the discussion of stakes it is about the character’s interpretation of the world and how they relate to one another that become the key heart of the book. Can you go too far or can you pull back. There is very much a grey morality the two need to face up to and that keeps the tension as to what happens all the way to the final chapters. I liked that Kinsella though allows room for growth too in the finale
Daughters of Nicnevin underlines Kinsella’s continued development as an excellent storyteller. The past of Scotland comes life with joy, danger, tradition and yet also modern topics weave into the story. We get to feel Kilmartin is a real breathing place. Our main two characters are complex women falling in love and trying to survive in a world which thinks women can only be a few things and then there are magical and wilder forces at work that offer opportunities and potential destruction. The story is lean, well-paced and knows to trust a reader to work through what is going on and lets the reader unpeel the motivations and decide whose side to take. Tense, romantic and magical this is a perfect story to curl up with on a dark evening and take us far away from it all. Strongly recommended!
