Winter rose

I have been a fan of Patricia McKillip since I started reading fantasy when I was about 12 years old. I borrowed my brother's omnibus volume of the Riddle-Master trilogy so much that he finally gave it to me. McKillip has a magical way of writing that is beautiful, poetic and captivating. The only other writers I know of like this are Lord Dunsany, Robin McKinley, and Tanith Lee. Like those writers, McKillip can take a fairy tale or folktale, embellish it and turn it around, and make it all her own. The Amazon.com review mentioned traces of Tam Lin and Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market" in "Winter Rose," which surprised me. I thought I had imagined the similarity between Lizzie and Laura in the poem and Rois and Laurel in the story.

The story concerns Rois and Laurel, daughters of a prosperous farmer. Their mother died of a mysterious wasting disease many years earlier, and Laurel has taken over as woman of the house. Laurel is engaged to Perrin, whom she has known all her life, and they are happily planning their wedding. Rois wanders the woods barefoot, gathering herbs, and searching for something that she can't quite explain. Then Corbett Lynn arrives to take possession of Lynn Hall, which has been abandoned for 50 years. No one has lived in the manor house since Nial Lynn, Corbett's grandfather, was supposedly murdered by his own son, Tearle Lynn, Corbett's father. There is a legend that Nial cursed his son with his dying breath, but just what the curse was is unknown - everyone has their own version, though no one else was present when Nial died so no one really knows what he said, if anything at all.

Corbett's presence soon disrupts life in the village, especially for Rois and Laurel. Sensible, even-tempered, practical Laurel becomes obsessed with Corbett and Rois soon follows suit. Much to their father's horror, both girls begin to act strangely, especially Rois, who keeps wandering off into the woods and in and around the manor. It soon becomes obvious that there is much more to Corbett and the curse than anyone thought. It is up to Rois to save her sister, Corbett, and herself from a very dangerous enemy.

If you like this, then I recommend the Riddle-Master trilogy: "The Riddle-Master of Hed," "Heir of Sea and Fire," and "Harpist in the Wind" (which won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel).